What we learned from the star witness in the Young Thug trial

It took 16 days, spaced out over nearly three months, but on Tuesday the state’s key witness in the ongoing gang and racketeering trial of Atlanta rapper Young Thug and five others was excused from the stand.

Jurors in the 21-month-long trial will have to decide whether they believe Kenneth Copeland’s courtroom testimony, in which he said he repeatedly lied to authorities, or if they trust instead what he told police over a series of interviews years ago where he implicated Young Thug as the head of a violent criminal gang Young Slime Life.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Copeland is still under subpoena and can be recalled again to take the stand.

Copeland, also known as Woody, has become a pivotal player in Fulton County’s gang and racketeering case. Information he shared with police helped prosecutors indict Young Thug and 27 others. His initial refusal to testify spurred a series of events that led to the judge being replaced. And his antics on the stand have made him something of an internet sensation.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Copeland first took the stand June 7, but was taken into custody and forced to spend the weekend in jail after refusing to testify.

Three days later, former presiding Judge Ural Glanville held a private meeting in his office with Copeland and Fulton County prosecutors to discuss an immunity agreement. That meeting was the catalyst for defense attorneys to call for Glanville’s removal from the case.

Glanville’s handling of those requests led to his removal from the trial. Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker was assigned to take over .

Whitaker gave Copeland a choice: either testify or spend the rest of the trial in jail. He selected the first option.

Parts of Copeland’s testimony and demeanor on the stand became internet fodder for those following the high-profile case. He repeatedly responded “I don’t recall” when asked about a series of recorded interviews he gave detectives in 2015 as authorities built their case against YSL, which prosecutors say is a criminal street gang run by the Grammy-winning musician Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams.

Beginning in 2015, Copeland sat down for hours of recorded interviews with Atlanta Police investigators and gave them information that helped lead to the sprawling spring 2022 indictment. Young Thug and five others are now on trial.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Copeland was given immunity by the state in exchange of his testimony. But when he finally began testifying last month, Copeland repeatedly told the jury that he had lied to police in a series of six interviews, telling Atlanta investigators whatever they wanted to hear in order to keep himself out of trouble.

That seemed to be a big problem for the state’s case. But prosecutors would use Copeland’s reluctance to testify and seeming inability to remember as a way to play the police interviews for the jury.

Prosecutors contend he was being truthful in those earlier interviews when he incriminated Young Thug and others.

“I’m testifying here by force,” Copeland said.

Here are some of the other highlights of Copeland’s last few days of testimony:

-- Copeland testified that he lied about being told by Damekion Garlington, who is also indicted in the RICO case, that defendants Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell were involved in the Jan. 10, 2015, killing of Donovan Thomas . Prosecutors say Thomas was a leader of a rival gang.

“When you said that Mr. Garlington told you that Mr. Kendrick and Mr. Stillwell were in the vehicle that shot at and killed Donovan Thomas, was that true or was this part of this lie?” Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel asked him during cross-examination.

“I made it up. He never told me they did it,” Copeland replied.

He also made it clear for the jury that he had been forced to testify in the case, saying he wanted to keep himself out of jail.

During two separate rants on the stand, Copeland told prosecutors he was tired of coming to court each day and that he felt pressured to testify by both sides. He said he had tried to “finesse the police” during his 2015 interviews and that most of what he told them were lies.

Copeland also threw a wrench into the state’s version of events regarding Thomas’ shooting when he seemingly cast blame on a close friend who was recently killed .

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Prosecutors said Young Thug had rented an Infiniti sedan used in Thomas’ drive-by shooting outside an Atlanta barbershop. But Copeland testified that he had loaned the car to his friend named Travante Turner.

Copeland also said he completely made up people during his 2015 police interviews in the hope of keeping himself out of trouble. He told defense attorney Max Schardt that he fabricated two people named “Lil Mike” and “Quez,” blaming them for certain crimes even though they never existed.

Copeland also described the Fulton County jail as the “worst place in the world,” the reason why he was trying to stay out of jail.

Prosecutors said they still have an estimated 100 witnesses to call before resting their case. The lengthy trial, already the longest in Georgia history, is expected to last through the first quarter of 2025.

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