Photo: YouTube
Young Thug's attorney Brian Steel was taken into custody following an intense exchange with the judge presiding over the YSL RICO trial.
On Monday, June 10, the jailed artist, his lawyer and his other co-defendants sat in court for day 88 of the trial. They were expecting to hear testimony from Kenneth "YSL Woody" Copeland, who was recently held in contempt for pleading the fifth during his scheduled testimony last week. At one point during the proceedings, Steele motioned for a mistrial once again after he said received information that the judge and the district attorney convinced Copeland to testify during an undisclosed meeting.
"Listen, if you don't tell me how you got this information, then you and I are going to have some problems," Judge Ural Glanville told Steel, who refused to give up his source.
"This is what I was told," Steele said. "If this is not true, its not true."
"How about the witness?" Steele continued. "How about Mr. Copeland who supposedly announced that he's not testifying and he'll sit for two years and then supposedly this honorable court — Excuse me, let me rephrase that — this court supposedly said, 'I can hold you until the end of this trial.' Ms. Hilton supposed said, 'Actually all of the defendants.' And then all 26 people are disposed of. If that's true, what this is... is coercion, witness intimidation, ex parte communications that we have a constitutional right to be present for."
Steel was taken into custody after he declined to reveal his source. He was later allowed back into to court to continue the rest of the day's proceedings.
Copeland was expected to be the prosecution's star witness who could've connected the multi-platinum selling artist to a key crime in the state's indictment against YSL. He was granted full immunity from state prosecution if he named Young Thug in an alleged murder plot. When he took the stand last Friday, Copeland refused to answer simple questions and ultimately pleaded the fifth amendment. As a result, Judge Glanville held him in contempt and made him spend the weekend behind bars. Steele also requested a mistrial at the time but Judge Glanville denied it.
Watch what happened during Copeland's testimony last week below.