Several attorneys representing Young Thug in the R.I.C.O. case against him have reportedly quit the case due to unpaid fees. This comes months after the Atlanta rapper, who was initially charged with a count each of participating in criminal street gang activity and conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (R.I.C.O.) Act, was charged with an additional count of participating in street gang activity, violating the Georgia controlled substances act, possessing a firearm while committing a felony, and possessing a machine gun.
Meanwhile, the attorney for one of Young Thug’s associates, Gunna, has filed a third bond motion for the rapper’s pretrial release.
The motion argues that the YSL indictment has been altered to remove any reference to Gunna’s involvement in violence and refutes Fulton County prosecutors’ earlier claims that Gunna was “directing the violence” with Young Thug in the alleged YSL gang.
This is the latest effort by Gunna’s lawyer and several other attorneys to secure the artist’s release, after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville denied his bond motions twice, citing concerns that he would threaten or intimidate witnesses if he was freed.
Young Thug’s attorney, Brian Steel, on the other hand, has argued that the prosecution’s use of the hip-hop star’s lyrics in the case is “racist and discriminatory” and violates his client’s Constitutional rights to free speech and due process by causing “unlawful character assassination”.
Steel has also argued that the lyrics cannot be used as evidence of crime if they are simply connected to music, freedom of expression, speech or poetry. Young Thug has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
