Young Thug Trial: 19 months, 6 defendants and now a third judge

The Young Thug trial appears to have found a new judge, for now.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker was assigned Wednesday to handle the 19-month-old racketeering and gang case against the rapper and his alleged associates.

Whitaker was named just hours after her colleague, Judge Shukura Ingram, recused herself because of a romantic relationship her former courthouse deputy had with a co-defendant in the case

Ingram said the deputy’s relationship with Christian Eppinger, could create an “appearance of impropriety” and issued an order recusing herself and asking that the case be reassigned.

Whitaker is a former Fulton County prosecutor, who also worked at the state Attorney General’s Office. She has been a judge in Fulton County since 2017.

Both judges were selected randomly.

The case has been in limbo since Judge Ural Glanville was remove d on Monday over his handling of complaints from defense lawyers. They objected to being excluded from a June 10 meeting he had with the prosecution team and a reluctant key state witness.

Appearance of impropriety

In her order removing herself from the case on Wednesday, Ingram said the former deputy was “assigned to and responsible for the courtroom and personal security” of her for nearly six months. The deputy was still assigned to Ingram when investigators discovered her relationship with Eppinger. She was arrested and later released on a $70,000 bond.

Ingram does not name the deputy in her order but she has been identified in other court documents as Akeiba Stanley .

Credit: Photo contributed by the candidate

“Because this Court’s former assigned deputy could be called as a witness in any future proceedings in this case, the Court may be called upon to assess this deputy’s credibility, or rule on matters related to her criminal prosecution. This may undermine the public’s confidence in the impartiality of the proceedings,” Ingram said.

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Ingram added that while she doesn’t think the situation creates “any actual bias” for or against any party in the case, she does think it could cause “a reasonable person to question the Court’s impartiality and reasonably give rise to the appearance of impropriety” if she remained.

The relationship between Eppinger and Stanley took place inside and outside the courtroom, court records showed. Stanley “fostered an inappropriate relationship” with Eppinger by visiting his cell and allegedly conspiring with one of his relatives to deliver prohibited items, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

According to a warrant, Eppinger allegedly used his attorney’s laptop to message people through Instagram, with deputies later learning Stanley was one of the people he was in contact with.

On several occasions, deputies saw Eppinger type a message, smile and then look at Stanley, who then typed something on her Apple watch before smiling back at Eppinger. An investigation later confirmed Eppinger was messaging with Stanley, the warrant said, by connecting their social media accounts.

Other instances which law enforcement said demonstrated an inappropriate relationship included Eppinger buying Stanley a birthday card, Stanley comforting Eppinger after the detainee had a scuffle with a different officer and Stanley rubbing Eppinger’s back and telling him to “look at me, baby.”

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

The alleged relationship resulted in Eppinger’s attorney Eric Johnson having his laptop seized and Eppinger being severed from the case . Johnson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday that his laptop still has not been returned.

Eppinger faces 15 counts in the sprawling gang case and is accused of shooting an Atlanta police officer six times during his 2022 arrest. Since then, he’s been linked to a jailhouse stabbing and he picked up two more felony charges for allegedly threatening sheriff’s office staff.

Stanley was charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, hindering the apprehension or punishment of a criminal, reckless conduct and violating her oath of office.

- AJC writer Shaddi Abusaid contributed to this report.

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