Jurors end 1st day of deliberations without a verdict in the YSL gang and racketeering trial

Associated Press/Report for America

ATLANTA (AP) — After almost a year of testimony, jurors finally began deliberating in the YSL gang and racketeering trial that originally included the rapper Young Thug. The last two defendants, Deamonte Kendrick — who raps as Yak Gotti — and Shannon Stillwell are waiting to learn their fate on murder, drug, gun and gang charges. The jury deliberated for a few hours Tuesday afternoon before being dismissed for the day. Prosecutors indicted 28 people in 2022 as part of what they called a criminal street gang co-founded by rapper Young Thug. The trial has been fraught with problems and delays, and Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, who took over the case in July, has often lost her patience with prosecutors.