According to Williams’ lawyer Brian Steel, the hearing clock began on June 9 when the last defendant in the lengthy YSL case entered a guilty plea and received a prison sentence.
The prosecutor has to either seek a continuance or try the case within 60 days, Steel argued. That didn’t occur.
Credit: AJC/Seeger Gray
Credit: AJC/Seeger Gray
Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker agreed, saying she had no option but to grant the dismissal on procedural grounds.
Whitaker dismissed the forfeiture case from the bench, explaining that there was never a request for a good cause finding to move the hearing date outside of the statutorily mandated periods.
The hearing was postponed, according to Fulton prosecutors, in part because Steel spent two months in New York City defending rapper Sean Diddy Combs in his federal sex trafficking trial.
However, Steel claimed he was exempt from informing the state that Monday’s hearing had been postponed past the 60-day period.
A representative for the office of District Attorney Fani Willis said in a statement that they were baffled by Whitaker’s decision to dismiss the case based on a timeline that the defense side had requested and a hearing date that the judge had chosen.
We are evaluating the case now for possible appeal considering that strange procedural history, spokesperson Jeff DiSantis said.
The decision is the another setback for the district attorney’s office, which came under heavy fire for how it handled the longest criminal trial in Georgia history.
With no one found guilty of murder, the YSL case, which had started with 28 defendants, came to an official end in June.
Young Thug, the co-founder and purported leader of the Atlanta-based gang, was among the 19 defendants who ultimately entered guilty pleas. Willis has defended her decision to bring the case, calling it an effective gang prosecution that helped make the community safer.
After entering a guilty plea on Halloween night, Williams was initially exiled from metro Atlanta for ten years and given a 15-year probationary sentence. As part of his punishment for giving a live lecture or benefit concert at a grade school, middle school, Boys & Girls Club, or similar organization against gang and gun violence, he must return to his hometown four times a year. Earlier this month, he went to a nearby school for the first of these gatherings.
Over the weekend, the rapper, who currently resides in Miami, celebrated turning 34. He didn’t show up for the hearing on Monday.
His attorney Keith Adams said Whitaker made the right decision in dismissing the civil forfeiture case.
Jason Getz, whose email address is [email protected]
Jason Getz, whose email address is [email protected]
This is the appropriate outcome, Adams said afterward. We think that just as ridiculous as the criminal trial was, we think the attempt to steal his property was just as ridiculous.
$149,426 in cash, a variety of expensive jewelry, and nine cars—a 2022 Corvette, a 2022 Porsche, a 2021 Maybach, a 2018 Lamborghini, two additional Mercedes, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Dodge Durango, and a Can-Am Spyder—are among the things scheduled to be returned to Williams.
At least six guns were also seized by authorities, court filings show, but Williams won t be getting those back since he s no longer allowed to possess firearms. Additionally, the DA’s office announced that Williams would not be getting his YSL-themed jewelry, which the prosecution claimed was connected to gang activity.
