Young Thug’s co-defendant takes plea deal in YSL court

One of the co-defendants facing YSL gang and racketeering charges took a surprise plea deal Tuesday that could change the course of the investigation. Young Banditproblematic litigation.

Quamarvious Nichols, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO law as part of a deal with prosecutors that dropped six other counts, including a murder charge and several weapons charges. Fulton Page County Judge Reese Whitaker immediately sentenced Nichols to a negotiated 20-year sentence, with seven years of supervised release and 13 years of probation.

“Do you acknowledge the factual basis for the first bill, the RICO bill?” Judge Whitaker asked as Nichols stood on the stand with one of his lawyers, Bruce Harvey, to enter his guilty plea. The lawyer said Nichols admitted to two “drug-related incidents” in 2017 and 2018, but that was about it.

“We categorically deny and dispute any use of violence by Mr. Nichols,” Harvey said. “We disagree with the underlying factual basis. We believe that these two predicate acts, which were committed by Mr. Nichols without question, are sufficient to satisfy the elements of the crime to which he admitted, namely, a RICO conspiracy.” He said there were no “strings attached” to the deal, making it clear Nichols was under no obligation to testify against his remaining co-defendants.

Nichols was charged with the 2022 murder of Shimel Drinks, an alleged associate of rival Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci. Shannon Stillwell, another co-defendant still on trial along with Young Thug and three others, is also charged with Drinks’ murder.

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

During Wednesday’s incident, rapper Vunny “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee, a former defendant in the case who entered a tentative plea agreement, read aloud to jurors part of an Instagram caption that was supposed to be redacted. The editorial was a hashtag with the inscription “Free Qua”. As soon as Lee read the hashtag out loud, there was an audible reaction in the courtroom, captured live broadcast conducted daily by Law&Crime.

Nichols’ defense team had previously won the right to throw out “Free Qua” because they said it suggested to jurors that their client had previously been in custody for another alleged crime. Prosecutors said it was unclear who “Cua” was referring to in the hashtag.

“We’re not going to be able to overturn this call,” Nicole Westmoreland, one of the other attorneys on Nichols’ team, said when she asked for a mistrial. Judge Whitaker, who scolded the prosecutor’s office last month for the alleged mistreatment of another witness, said she believes Wednesday’s incident was “careless” but ultimately a “mistake.” She said if she grants a mistrial, it will be “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors can go back and try every defendant again. She said another option is for prosecutors to craft a jury instruction that makes it clear the hashtag is not related to one of the defendants. Prosecutors said they were unsure.

“I’m trying to correct your sloppiness so that everyone doesn’t waste 10-12 months of their lives on this process,” Judge Whitaker retorted.

Young Thug, born Jeffrey Williams, has pleaded not guilty to eight charges brought against him in a 65-count state RICO indictment. Prosecutors say he founded and led a violent street gang called Young Slime Life. He says YSL is a record company and that he doesn’t even know some of the 28 defendants named in the indictment. He has been in jail since May 2022 and several judges have refused to grant him bail.