A Fulton County judge sentenced him to 40 years but commuted that to time served and probation. The case was seen as a template for a potential Donald Trump trial.

A long, drama-ridden criminal racketeering and gang conspiracy trial of United States rapper Young Thug that began nearly two years ago ended on an abrupt note on Friday NZT.

The Grammy Award-winning hip-hop star reached a surprise plea deal in the case amid threats of a mistrial that could have started proceedings all over again.

The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, pleaded no contest to two counts: conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (Rico) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity. He pleaded guilty to six other counts related to drug possession and firearm violations.

He faced 120 years in prison. Prosecutors sought a sentence of 45 years, with 25 served in custody and 20 years’ probation.

But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker rejected that suggestion. She sentenced the rapper to 40 years, with five years in prison. Whitaker also commuted the sentence to time served and 15 years’ probation - allowing the rapper to be released from custody.

Whitaker’s leniency came with several conditions - including ordering Young Thug to stay away from metro Atlanta for the next 10 years, with some rare exceptions including medical emergencies of family members and funerals, and participating in concerts that warn of the dangers of gang participation.

Young Thug told the judge he took “full responsibility” for his crimes and apologised to his family and friends.

“I am a good guy, and I really got a good heart,” he said. “I find myself in a lot of stuff because I was just nice or cool, you know, and I understand that you can’t be that way when you reach a certain height because it could end bad.”

“I hope you allow me to go home and do the right thing,” he told the judge.

Young Thug in October 2021. Photo / Getty Images

Whitaker responded with a lenient sentence but also strongly admonished Young Thug, urging him to use his music to set a better example for his fans, including kids.

“I know you’re talented, and if you choose to continue to rap, you need to try to use your influence to let kids know that … there are ways out of poverty besides hooking up with the powerful guy at the end of the street selling drugs,” the judge said.

The rapper’s surprise plea brought a sudden end to a dramatic trial that had become daily viewing for much of greater Atlanta and beyond, with thousands of viewers streaming the proceedings online and celebrity guests in the courtroom. And true to form, Young Thug’s decision to plead guilty was preceded by a moment of suspense over whether he would move forward with the plea.

Calling proceedings to order, Whitaker announced that she had been informed that plea negotiations between Young Thug and prosecutors had reached an “impasse” and that the rapper wanted to enter a “non-negotiated plea”, meaning the judge would determine his sentence.

Seated between his lawyers at a defence table, with members of his family in the courtroom watching, Young Thug looked down and said nothing in response to Whitaker’s inquiry - prompting his lawyers to ask for a recess. About 20 minutes later, the rapper indicated he wanted to proceed.

The development came more than a week after Whitaker halted testimony in the case after prosecutors failed to redact language on an exhibit, leading a prosecution witness to inadvertently reveal to the jury that at least one of the five alleged associates on trial with Young Thug had been jailed. That October 23 error prompted numerous defence motions for mistrial.

But Whitaker said she would not declare a mistrial with prejudice. Had she done so, the current trial would be over and the case could not be retried. She criticised prosecutors for their “sloppiness” but said she did not agree with defence lawyers, who have repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that prosecutors were intentionally making errors to force a mistrial to retry their case before another jury.

When some defence lawyers indicated they would agree to a mistrial without prejudice, allowing their clients to be tried again, Whitaker called a recess and later abruptly adjourned for the day without a ruling.

That led to days of behind-the-scenes plea negotiations between defence teams and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (a Democrat), whose office has been leading the high-stakes case against the rapper, and several alleged associates who stand accused of being members of a murderous Atlanta street gang known as Young Slime Life, or YSL.

Earlier this week, three of the six defendants on trial reached deals, pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Rico act in exchange for reduced charges. It was a partial victory for Willis, a veteran prosecutor who has faced criticism for her embrace of the state’s Rico law to pursue expansive, multi-defendant cases.

But the rapper’s plea came at some political cost to Willis on the eve of an election where she is seeking a second term as Fulton County’s top prosecutor. She has faced intense criticism, including from supporters, for her decision to use Young Thug’s lyrics against him as she sought to prove his role in gang activities.

At the same time, repeated prosecution missteps in the trial cast an equally unflattering eye on the district attorney’s office and have been fodder in Willis’s re-election bid. Courtney Kramer, a Republican lawyer and former intern in the Trump White House who is running against Willis, made headlines last month when she vowed to end the Young Thug trial and drop charges against the rapper and his co-defendants if elected.

The legal turmoil in the Young Thug proceedings played out against the backdrop of drama in Willis’ other high-profile case. In August 2023, she brought charges against former US President Donald Trump and more than a dozen of his associates, alleging that they criminally conspired to try to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.

But that case is now largely frozen, as Trump and others appeal a judge’s decision to allow Willis to continue prosecuting the case amid complaints that she had an improper romantic relationship with the former lead prosecutor she appointed to the case. The Georgia Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments in that matter in December.

While Willis is overwhelmingly favoured to win re-election, she has faced lingering questions about her leadership and judgment after the controversy that has engulfed the election interference case against Trump and his allies.

The Young Thug case had been viewed as a test of how a trial against Trump and his co-defendants might unfold - with its celebrity defendant and ensemble cast of aggressive Atlanta criminal defence lawyers working in tandem.

Critics of Willis have seized on her use of Georgia’s expansive racketeering statute to pursue such sweeping cases, describing them as a waste of taxpayer money.

The Young Thug proceedings had been the longest-running criminal trial in Georgia history. The rapper’s guilty plea came nearly two years after jury selection began and nearly a year after opening statements in the case.

The dramatic developments came three months after Whitaker took over the trial after Judge Ural Glanville, who had presided over the case for more than two years, was formally recused in July amid defence complaints about a meeting he and prosecutors held with a key witness.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in East Del Valle, Austin, Texas, last month. Photo / AFP

That controversy led to a nearly two-month disruption in testimony and defence motions for mistrial, which argued that the proceedings had been legally compromised by Glanville’s handling of the case and alleged misconduct by prosecutors.

Whitaker denied those motions and another that called for the removal of top prosecutors on the case. She resumed proceedings August 12 but warned prosecutors about their conduct.

The judge ordered the entire prosecution team to undergo fresh training on “Brady rules”, which require the disclosure of material potentially favourable to the defence, and the “professional obligations” of being prosecutors.

A former Fulton County prosecutor, Whitaker signalled she planned to run a more organised courtroom than her predecessor and push proceedings to move at a brisker pace. But Whitaker’s patience was quickly tested, amid continued clashes with lawyers about disclosure of evidence and other issues.

On September 30, Whitaker admonished lead prosecutor Adriane Love, questioning whether she had deliberately misled the court by misrepresenting how she planned to use evidence that defence lawyers had objected to.

“It is baffling to me that somebody with the number of years of experience that you have, time after time after time, continues to seemingly purposefully hide the ball to the extent you possibly can for as long as you possibly can,” Whitaker angrily told Love.

“And I really don’t want to believe that it is purposeful, but honestly, after a certain number of times, you start to wonder how it could be anything but that, unless it is just that you are so unorganised that you are throwing this case together as you try it.”

Even as his client entered a plea in the case, Brian Steel, Young Thug’s lawyer, spent more than half an hour on Friday attacking prosecutors. He accused them of misrepresenting and hiding evidence, and violating rules that mandate disclosure of evidence to defendants.

“They have falsely accused Mr Williams,” Steel said, noting that his client has been jailed since May 2022. “This case is just wrong to do to somebody with no bond and to hold him hostage … The past year has been full of untruths, and [prosecutors] know it.”

Young Thug and 27 associates were charged in May 2022 as part of a sweeping grand jury indictment that alleged that the rapper and his co-defendants were members of an Atlanta street gang responsible for an explosion of violence across the city dating back more than a decade.

The initial 56-count indictment charged Young Thug on just two counts: participation in criminal street gang activity and conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law as the alleged leader of YSL. In August 2022, he was indicted on six additional drug and weapons charges, including possession of an illegal machine gun.

The rapper had been standing trial with five others after a majority of the defendants reached plea deals or had their cases severed. But even with a streamlined list of defendants, the case moved at a glacial pace, with jury selection dragging on for 10 months, weeks-long breaks in testimony and other delays.

Despite requests from Whitaker to “streamline” their case, prosecutors were barely halfway through their list of more than 200 witnesses when the trial was abruptly halted. Two of Young Thug’s co-defendants have so far declined plea offers. It was not immediately clear how the case would proceed for them.

As Whitaker signed off on a sentence of time served for Young Thug, prosecutors appeared visibly stunned - even as Love acknowledged the state had offered the rapper a similar deal but one that required him to admit to being a gang leader, which Steel said his client refused to do.

The judge repeatedly warned Young Thug to avoid associating with gang members and other co-defendants in the case - though she granted an exception allowing Young Thug to communicate with Sergio Kitchens, also known as the rapper Gunna. The Young Thug protege was also indicted in the case but was released after entering an Alford plea.

Whitaker repeatedly warned Young Thug to be on good behaviour.

“There better be no violations, but if there are any, you’re coming back to see me,” she said.