Fani Willis’ office misled court, delayed Young Thug’s assets, judge says

The order also included a scathing assessment of how the DA’s office handled its attempt to appeal the earlier decision.

For one thing, ahead of the August hearing, Willis’ office declined to split the cost for a court reporter to take a transcript of the hearing, instead forcing the rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, to pay for it himself, according to the order.

When the hearing didn’t go in prosecutors’ favor, it sought to appeal and reached out to Williams’ attorneys for the contact information for the court reporter so the DA could get a transcript to use in its appeal. Then, it askedWhitaker for two extensions on deadlines for its appeal, saying the court reporter needed time to finish the transcript.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

But Whitaker said the DA admitted it had failed to ever reach out to the court reporter for the transcript in the first place, so there isn’t an acceptable explanation for why the appeal is so late. The delay, the judge said, is “inexcusable.”

“To repeatedly request extensions over a period of months without making any effort, much less a diligent inquiry, as to the transcription status with the court reporter or the court reporting company constitutes a lack of reasonable justification, and the State’s conduct is inexcusable,” Whitaker wrote in Wednesday’s order.

As a result of “misinforming the court and the parties,” Whitaker dismissed the state’s appeal and ordered the return of Williams’ property — which includes nearly $150,000 in cash, a fleet of luxury vehicles and an assortment of jewelry — by Friday. The items were seized from the musician’s home after his 2022 arrest on gang and racketeering charges.

A spokesperson for the DA’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Whitaker’s order.

This is not the first time Whitaker has called out conduct by Fulton prosecutors in the Young Thug case. During the YSL trial, Whitaker scolded Chief Deputy DA Adriane Love for her handling of the sprawling case that eventually became Georgia’s longest-running jury trial.

“I truly am struggling with whether all of this is purposeful or this is just really poor lawyering on the part of members of the state’s team,” Whitaker said at the time. “Either way, it’s really unfortunate. If it’s something other than poor lawyering, then it is more than unfortunate.”

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

At one point, Whitaker even ordered prosecutors to undergo training on the importance of sharing evidence with defense attorneys “and other professional obligations.”

Doug Weinstein, who was a defense attorney in the YSL trial involving Young Thug and others, said Whitaker could potentially hold the DA’s office in civil contempt and issue monetary sanctions for their actions in the asset forfeiture dispute.

“Given that the state misled the court on at least two occasions, I would imagine that if they failed to return Jeffery Williams’ property, then they would be subject to substantial sanctions for contempt of court in order to compel compliance,” Weinstein said.