Judge Rules Young Thug’s Lyrics Can Considered Evidence In RICO Case

According to Billboard.com, on November 9 an Atlanta judge allegedly ruled that he would allow most of Young Thug’s rap lyrics to be used as evidence against him and the other alleged gang members in the upcoming criminal trial. The ruling came a day after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville held a hearing about the alleged use of lyrics as evidence, which is a controversial practice that has brought backlash from the music industry and efforts by lawmakers to stop it.

The alleged lyrics could play a key role in the trial, which will kick off later this month. Prosecutors claim that Thug and YSL were allegedly not a popular music collective that is called “Young Stoner Life” but instead are an alleged violent Atlanta gang called Young Slime Life that has allegedly committed murders, alleged carjackings, alleged drug dealing and other alleged crimes over the course of a decade.

Representing Thug is attorney Brian Steel who blasted prosecutors for attempting to use creative expression to convict his client: “They are targeting the right to free speech, and that’s wrong. They are saying that just because he his singing about it, he is now part of a crime.”

But after an hours long hearing that ran until nearly 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Judge Glanville allegedly rejected those arguments by allegedly stating: “They’re not prosecuting your clients because of the songs they wrote. They’re using the songs to prove other things your clients may have been involved in. I don’t think it’s an attack on free speech.”

In a formal ruling on Thursday morning, the judge allegedly denied Thug’s request to ban the alleged lyrics entirely and  allegedly granted a motion by prosecutors to allegedly preliminarily admit them. Though Judge Glanville allegedly said prosecutors would allegedly still need to establish why they were allegedly using them and that Steel could allegedly object during the trial. The judge allegedly suggested at Wednesday’s hearing that he would allegedly allow lyrics to be allegedly admitted as  alleged evidence and that it allegedly would be up to jurors to allegedly decide how much alleged weight to give them.