ATLANTA — Roughly 2 1/2 years after jury selection began in the first YSL trial, the sprawling RICO gang case is closed with the final defendant in the second trial, Christian Eppinger, pleading out his case on Monday.
Eppinger entered an Alford plea, which allowed him to accept the practical outcome of a guilty plea while maintaining his innocence. He had faced 15 counts in the original RICO indictment, including two counts of attempted murder for shooting an Atlanta Police Department officer six times in 2022. Four of his charges were ultimately not prosecuted.
He was then sentenced to 40 years in prison, with 35 additional years of probation. However Judge Paige Whitaker set the sentence to run concurrently with a 45-year sentence he’s already currently serving on an armed robbery case — so, functionally, no new jail time…