One of the other defendants charged within the scope of the YSL gang and racketeering conspiracy indictment made a surprise plea deal on Tuesday, a move that could change the course of the process. Young ThugHis trial was plagued with problems.

Quamarious Nichols, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO law in a deal with prosecutors that dropped six other charges, including the murder charge and multiple weapons charges. Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker immediately sentenced Nichols to a 20-year plea deal; In this agreement, he was sentenced to seven years in custody and 13 years of supervised release.

“Do you all agree that the RICO count is factual?” Judge Whitaker asked the question as he stood at the podium with Bruce Harvey, one of Nichols’ defense attorneys, and pleaded guilty. The lawyer said Nichols admitted to two “drug incidents” in 2017 and 2018, but that’s about it.

“We categorically deny and oppose Mr. Nichols’ use of violence,” Harvey said. “We do not accept the real underlying basis. “We believe that these two predicate actions taken without question by Mr. Nichols are sufficient to meet the elements of the crime he alleges, namely, a RICO conspiracy.” He said there were “no conditions” to the agreement, signaling that Nichols did not have to testify against the remaining co-defendants.

Nichols was accused of murdering Shymel Drinks, an alleged partner of rival Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci, in 2022. Shannon Stillwell, a co-defendant currently on trial along with Young Thug and three others, is also charged with Drinks’ murder.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether Nichols’ plea would affect plea negotiations with the five other defendants currently on trial. prosecutors We started one-on-one meetings with the defense teams last week. While Judge Whitaker is considering a pending motion for summary judgment filed by Nichols’ attorneys. The latest mistrial motion comes after prosecutors on Wednesday allowed a witness to testify that should have been excluded on the grounds that it could be damaging.

In the incident that took place on Wednesday, rapper Wunnie “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee, the former defendant in the case and who had previously entered into a plea agreement, read aloud to the jury part of an Instagram post that needed to be corrected. The redaction was a tag that said “Free Qua”. When Lee read the hashtag out loud, there was an audible reaction in the courtroom. Live broadcast provided daily by Law&Crime.

Nichols’ defense team had previously won the right to exclude “Free Qua” because it argued it would give jurors the impression that their client was in custody for a different, previously alleged crime. Prosecutors said it was unclear to whom the “Qua” in the hashtag referred.

“We’re not going to be able to ring this bell,” said Nicole Westmoreland, another attorney on Nichols’ team, in requesting a reversal of the trial. Judge Whitaker, He scolded prosecutors last month Regarding the alleged mistreatment of a different witness, he said he viewed Wednesday’s incident as “sloppy” but ultimately a “mistake.” If he were to order a mistrial, he said, it would be “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors could go back and retry each defendant. Another option, he said, is for prosecutors to prepare a jury instruction that would make clear that the hashtag is not related to one of the defendants. Prosecutors said they weren’t sure.

“What I’m trying to do is correct your sloppiness so that everybody doesn’t waste 10, 12 months of their life on this trial,” Judge Whitaker responded.

Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, has pleaded not guilty to eight charges filed against him as part of the state’s 65-count RICO indictment. Prosecutors allege he founded and ran a violent street gang called Young Slime Life. He says that YSL is a record company and that he does not even know some of the 28 defendants named in the indictment. He has been in jail since May 2022 and successive judges have refused to grant him bail.