Kreis has been following the trial since the beginning.
I started watching theYSL trialout of pure curiosity.
The Fulton County District Attorney used Georgias racketeering statute in that indictment as well.
Rapper Young Thug, real name Jeffery Williams, appears in court for jury selection at Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2022.Natrice Miller/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP
I was mindful of the many layers of constitutional law involved in the YSL case.
I was very concerned, for example, about how rap lyrics would be used as evidence of criminality.
Its contrary to our First Amendment free speech values.
Under the Sixth Amendment, defendants must have legal representation, an indispensable necessity in our adversarial system.
Public defenders are overworked and underpaid.
The trial lasted a year, from opening statements until the verdict.
That was a courtroom devoted to one group of defendants for a year.
That was a judge whose time was wholly soaked up.
Some of the best and brightest Atlanta-area criminal defense attorneys were entirely preoccupied.
It was a drain on everybodys resources.
How many other trials could have been held during that year had this trial been more efficient?
How many people were left waiting for trials longer than necessary?
That last question strikes at the heart of a broken system.
This trial had issues from the start.
It was painful to watch the states opening.
There needed to be a straightforward narrative.
There needed to be a sense of purpose.
There needed to be a buttoned-down theory of criminality.
These things never came from prosecutors.
And things did not get better later on.
It often seemed like the state was throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something would stick.
I could not help but wonder what jurors were making of it all.
These were jurors asked to give up months of their life.
Many people were interested in the trial because of the personalities involved.
They were curious because they were fans ofYoung Thug.
They were captivated by the intersection of law and celebrity.
That was never me.
Many people walked away with similar concerns about wasted resources, dangerous jail conditions, and heavy-handed prosecutions.
Yes, the monetary cost for the YSL trial is surely in the multiple millions.
We cant quantify that.
