'Preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system': Judge kicked off Young Thug RICO case after improperly defending himself against recusal

Main image: Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural D. Glanville on June 18, 2024; Inset right: Jeffery “Young Thug” Williams (Law&Crime Network)

The racketeering (RICO) prosecution against Jeffery “Young Thug” Williams is in a temporary state of limbo after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural D. Glanville was kicked off the case.

On Monday afternoon, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause decided two recusal motions in favor of the defense and found that “preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system” favors “excusing Judge Glanville from further handling of this case.”

The case itself will remain in effect and was quickly reassigned to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura L Ingram .

The defense’s victory in removing Glanville comes after a month of high drama stemming from the court’s decision to hold a secret meeting with the state’s star witness, Kenneth “Lil Woody” Copeland, who reluctantly took the stand only after he was held in contempt .

On June 10, during his second day on the stand, Copeland was generally a nonstarter of a witness — saying he could not remember his own criminal record or the ages of his children, protesting he had vision problems when asked to identify one of the co-defendants, and complaining that he was thirsty before turning down a glass of water.

After a lunch break, however, the defense said they had a bigger problem with Copeland that eclipsed any mere lack of cooperation.

In open court, Williams’ lead defense attorney Brian Steel complained that Copeland and his counsel met with the judge and multiple “district attorneys” outside the presence of defense counsel. During this ex parte meeting, the witness was essentially forced to take the stand under the threat of more jail time . According to Steel, Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love and Glanville himself told the witness that a refusal to testify could keep him behind bars until the entire RICO indictment in the case is fully and finally dispensed with.

Young Thug and five other co-defendants — Shannon “SB” Stillwell, Marquavius “Qua” Huey, Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, Quamarvious “Qua” Nichols, and Rodalius “Lil Rod” Ryan — face a long trial after an 86-page RICO indictment was filed against 28 total defendants in 2023. Since then, nine defendants have taken plea deals, including Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge and Williams’ brother Quantavious “Unfoonk” Grier. Others have had their cases separated.

In the moments and days that followed the explosive charge about the ex parte meeting, recriminations did as well.

The judge himself ordered Williams’ attorney to divulge how he came to know about the secret meeting. But Steel refused.

By the end of June 10, Steel was sentenced to 20 days in jail for criminal contempt — to be served on the weekends beginning June 14. Steel, in turn, requested that he be able to share a cell with his client to continue his work on the complex case

On June 11, Steel filed an emergency appeal motion of his contempt charge. On June 12, the Supreme Court of Georgia granted Steel a supersedeas bond — meaning Steel never did go to jail.

Also on June 11, Glanville filed an order to show cause — demanding all the secret meeting participants appear at a hearing to discuss “why one or more of them should not be held in contempt for disclosing information from the ex parte conversation to members of the Defense counsel.” That order singled out Copeland and his since-fired attorney Kayla Bumpus — but only Copeland and Bumpus — by name.

Bumpus, in turn, filed a motion to quash the show cause hearing. That hearing was eventually postponed and is now moot.

On June 12, Kendrick’s attorneys filed a recusal motion aimed at Glanville that outlined the case against the judge in broad strokes.

On June 17 , Steel filed a lengthy and sharply-worded recusal and disqualification motion that outright accused Glanville of repeatedly breaking the law, engaging in “witness intimidation” and more.

Glanville swiftly denied each of the motions. On appeal, Glanville was all but forced to refer those motions to a separate judge.

While characterizing some of the language in Williams’ motion as “hyperbole” Krause’s order aligns with the defense’s understanding of the facts as they relate to the secret ex parte meeting.

“Mr. Williams’ motion alleges both actual bias and the appearance of bias because Judge Glanville allegedly participated in the accusatory process when he met with Mr. Copeland and Judge Glanville became ’embroiled in a controversy’ when he held Mr. Williams’ lawyer, Brian Steel, in contempt,” the recusal order explains.

Krause also says she “agrees generally” with Glanville’s assessment that the ex parte meeting was proper — but takes issue with how Glanville dealt with the recusal motions once they were filed.

“While the meeting could have — and perhaps should have — taken place in open court, nothing about the fact of the meeting or the substance discussed was inherently improper,” the order explains. “However, in his order denying Defendant Kendrick’s motion and in the process of making his record on July 1, 2024, Judge Glanville added facts, provided context, questioned the veracity of allegations, and otherwise explained his decisions and actions and argued why those actions were proper.”

In defending himself from a recusal motion, however, Glanville was essentially hamstrung by Georgia law, the order goes on to note.

In the Peach State, a judge must immediately recuse from any properly filed and valid recusal motion — and any attempts to defend against a motion will result in the judge’s mandatory recusal.

Krause cited the following precedent from the Georgia Supreme Court: “A judge cannot become actively involved in presenting evidence or argument against a motion seeking his recusal without that defense itself becoming a basis for recusal.”

“In presenting his record as to the recusal issues and in ruling on Kendrick’s motion, Judge Glanville ‘evaluated and accepted the truth of his own factual allegations, mandating his recusal,'” the order explains — citing another precedent, from an appeals court, on point.

“Judge Glanville was required to refer the motion for reassignment and was prohibited from opposing the motion,” Krause observes.

The case, which has dragged on for years, will now take considerably longer as the new judge takes over and takes stock.

The post ‘Preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system’: Judge kicked off Young Thug RICO case after improperly defending himself against recusal first appeared on Law & Crime .