The atmosphere in Young Thug’s YSL RICO trial intensified when an attorney for the rapper was taken into custody during court proceedings.
According to a report by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday (June 10), things got spicy when Brian Steel confronted Judge Ural Glanville about a hush-hush chat between Glanville, prosecutors, and a star witness earlier that morning. When asked how he got the scoop, Steel played coy and refused to spill the beans, leading to his dramatic exit from the courtroom.
I’m going to give you five minutes. If you don’t tell me who it is, I’m going to put you in contempt,” said Judge Ural Glanville.
“I don’t need five minutes,” responded Steel.
Following the back-and-forth the court was temporarily recessed. When it reconvened, Glanville gave Steel one more chance to come clean but was met with resistance.
“Mr. Steel, I’m going to ask you again. I need you to tell me how you got this information. This is so sacrosanct to have a conversation in my chambers parroted to you,” added Glanville.
Steel tried his luck with a mistrial motion, but it was a swing and a miss as the judge denied it before sending he was taken into custody. Back in the courtroom soon after, Steel got a temporary reprieve to watch the legal drama unfold, but if he doesn’t come forward with his source by the end of the day, it’s back to the clink for him!
Steel’s arrest comes after rapper Lil Woody (real name Kenneth Copeland) was arrested on the witness stand for refusing to testify.
Copeland’s attorney, John Melnick, indicated to the court that he wanted to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights. However, Glanville had other plans and informed Copeland, believed to be the informant of Young Thug’s alleged criminal activity, that if he didn’t testify, he risked being held in contempt. “What he has told me is that he repeatedly told the DA’s office that he did not wish to cooperate,” Melnick said in a statement.
Initially granted immunity for his testimony, Copeland was arrested after refusing to take the stand. “You are required to testify, so if you don’t testify the state is probably going to ask me to jail you and I’m probably going to do that,” Glanville said before Copeland’s arrest. Copeland’s response to the decision was short and simple: “I’m grown,” he said. “I’m an adult.”