Young Thug's Lawyer Held in Contempt During Rapper's Trial, Ordered to Spend 10 Weekends in Jail

Young Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steel, will spend the next 10 weekends in jail after being held in contempt during the rapper’s ongoing criminal racketeering trial. 

On Monday, June 10, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville ordered the criminal defense attorney to jail after he confronted him and prosecutors over an improper meeting with Kenneth Copeland, a Young Thug associate and key witness in his client’s case, report the Associated Press, the Washington Post and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The outlets report that Steel claimed Copeland was told he could be jailed for the remainder of Young Thug’s trial should he reaffirm his refusal to testify and not cooperate, per details from an unnamed source, which allegedly prompted the witness to take the stand on Monday.

“If that’s true, what this is is coercion, witness intimidation, ex parte communications that we have a constitutional right to be present for,” Steel told Glanville, per the Washington Post. To which the judge demanded, “How did you come upon this information? Who told you?”

After Steel said revealing his source could violate attorney-client protections and “work product” privilege, Glanville ordered the lawyer be held in criminal contempt and taken into custody. Steel was sentenced to 20 days in the Fulton County Jail, a sentence he’ll begin serving this Friday, June 14, until Sunday, Aug. 18.

Young Thug (real name Jeffrey Lamar Williams), 32, was arrested in May 2022 on two charges of conspiracy to violate the racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act (RICO), and a charge of participation in criminal street gang activity. The RICO charge stems from an alleged January 2013 incident, while the criminal street gang activity charge connects to an alleged incident from May 2018. 

He’s accused of using his imprint label, Young Slime Life (YSL) Records, to participate in gang activity and criminal conspiracies. The rap star has also been charged with gang, drug and gun-related crimes and is standing trial with five others indicted with him. 

After a lengthy jury selection process and 567 days spent in jail, the “Hot” rapper’s Atlanta trial finally began in November 2023. Since then, the case has been plagued with several delays, courtroom drama and viral antics and even a stabbing of a YSL co-defendant, Shannon Stillwell, that caused a three-week hiatus in December, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The latest development in Young Thug’s highly publicized trial — in which a Fulton District Attorney has alleged that the Grammy winner is the co-founder of a violent criminal street gang and used his music to promote it — and his lawyer’s recent arrest come as the case continues to drag on over six months later.

The Washington Post reported that the “Best Friend” rapper’s case is already the longest criminal trial in Georgia history, with proceedings predicted to last well into 2025.