After nearly a year’s worth of testimony from more than 175 witnesses, Fulton County prosecutors rested their case Tuesday in a gang and racketeering trial that has become the longest in Georgia history.
Missing was the trial’s star defendant; Atlanta rapper Young Thug, one of four members of “Young Slime Life” who pleaded guilty during the lengthy trial. The two remaining defendants, Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, rejected plea offers after more than a week of negotiations. Both face murder and other charges.
Neither Stillwell nor Kendrick will present evidence, their lawyers said, and they declined to testify in their defense.
Prosecutors alleged Young Thug was the leader of a street gang known as “Young Slime Life,” which was responsible for a spate of robberies and shootings, some of which were fatal. Defense attorneys maintain YSL is a record label.
In her opening statement last November, Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love described the alleged gang as a “pack.” And she said Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was the lead wolf .