Young Thug Accepts Blind Plea Deal

Young Thug - ysl

The YSL rapper’s plea arrived after three of the remaining co-defendants in the years-long RICO trial reached plea deals over the last 72 hours.

Young Thug, who’s been behind bars since 2022 on a sprawling Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act indictment, accepted a non-negotiated (or blind) plea deal on Thursday (October 31) after agreeing to plead guilty or no contest to multiple charges, including possession of a machine gun, the RICO count and gang leader count.

He previously rejected a negotiated plea deal offer. Consequently, the state is recommending a 45-year sentence with 25 years to serve in custody and 20 years on probation. The final decision on sentencing is up to the judge.

Young Thug’ plea arrived after three of the remaining co-defendants in Atlanta’s “trial of the century” reached plea deals over the last 72 hours. Rodalius Ryan and Marquavius Huey entered guilty pleas the day after Quamarvious Nichols accepted a deal.

Ryan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO Act. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced him to 10 years, which was commuted to time served. Ryan remains in custody as he’s serving a life sentence for murder. Huey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, aggravated assault, robbery, gun and gang charges.

The judge sentenced Huey to 25 years with nine to be served in prison. The rest will be spent on probation with five years suspended. Huey has already spent two years in custody. Now, only Yak Gotti and SB remain; the former has opted to take it to a jury.

The defense demanded a mistrial due to the prosecution’s error October 23 in which a witness revealed Nichols was previously incarcerated, which the jury wasn’t supposed to know. Judge Whitaker refused to grant a mistrial with prejudice, which would block the prosecution from retrying Young Thug and his co-defendants.

She did, however, provide an option for a mistrial without prejudice and criticized prosecutors for the hiccups. Consequently, the prosecution and defense engaged in plea deal negotiations due to the looming threat of a mistrial.

The hearing is currently ongoing and being streamed live on YouTube. Thug’s official sentence has yet to be confirmed. Stay tuned.

This is a developing story.