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Judge delays bond hearing for Young Thug

ATLANTA — Atlanta rapper Young Thug will have to wait until next month before finding out if he will be released on bond.

On Monday, prosecutors filed a motion to remove the rapper’s attorney from the case, citing a conflict of interest.

Earlier in the day, a judge denied bond for fellow rapper Gunna. Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, and Gunna are both charged with violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act and participating in a criminal street gang.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden spoke to the Jeffrey Williams, Sr., the rapper’s father about what attorneys for Gunna offered the judge.

“They offered pretty much everything but his first-born and they still denied bond,” Williams said of Gunna’s case.

Williams said he is not worried that his son will be denied bond when he goes to court on June 2.

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Young Thug was arrested earlier this month at a home in Buckhead on a sweeping gang indictment that also named 27 other people, including Sergio Kitchens, aka Gunna.

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the people named in the indictment are members of the Young Slime Life gang, which has engaged in criminal activity in the city since 2012.

The 88-page indictment gives a detailed account of various crimes the alleged members of YSL are accused of, and documents social media posts and rap lyrics that reference YSL.

“They are committing conservatively 75% to 80% of all the violent crime in our community,” Willis said. “It doesn’t matter your notoriety or fame, if you come to Fulton County, Georgia, and you commit crimes, you are going to be a target and a focus of this District Attorney’s office.”

[READ MORE: Here are the people facing charges in the indictment that includes rapper Young Thug]

Lawyers said in a motion that Young Thug was simply exercising his freedom of speech and doing his job, but that “the state seeks to insinuate criminal conduct from quotations from song lyrics and social media posts.”

They claim that Williams’ arrest was a violation of his first and fourteenth amendment rights, which protect freedom of speech and expression.

The motion also disputes the district attorney’s claims that Williams once rented a car that was later used in a murder.

“There is no allegation by the Grand Jury that Mr. Williams had knowledge of this crime, had knowledge that this rented vehicle would be used in any supposed crime or that Mr. Williams was a party to this supposed crime,” lawyers said.

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