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Shannon Stillwell, a co-defendant of the famous person rapper Younger Thug in the racketeering and gang conspiracy case at present underway in Atlanta, was stabbed in jail on Sunday evening, a lawyer for Mr. Stillwell stated, delaying the blockbuster trial.
Mr. Stillwell was being held on the Fulton County Jail, referred to as Rice Road, a facility that has confronted criticism for its dysfunction and a latest spate of violence.
“He’s with us — he’s alive,” Max Schardt, a lawyer for Mr. Stillwell, stated in an interview on Monday. “However I concern that it was critical.”
Mr. Schardt stated that he was nonetheless gathering particulars concerning the circumstances of the assault, and that he had organized to talk together with his shopper this afternoon.
Natalie L. Ammons, the director of communications for Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace, confirmed that Mr. Stillwell was stabbed however didn’t instantly present further particulars. Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for the Fulton County District Legal professional’s Workplace, declined to remark.
Mr. Stillwell, referred to as SB or Shannon Jackson, is among the many 5 defendants at present on trial alongside the favored Atlanta rapper Younger Thug, born Jeffery Williams, who stands accused of being the chief of a violent legal avenue gang referred to as YSL, or Younger Slime Life. Mr. Williams, who has pleaded not responsible, has stated that his gangster persona is fictional and that YSL is solely his report label.
Along with being charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, and participation in legal avenue gang exercise, Mr. Stillwell faces two counts of homicide, together with involvement within the 2015 drive-by capturing of a rival gang member that prosecutors say set off a yearslong battle that terrorized the world. Mr. Stillwell has pleaded not responsible to all costs.
The case additionally contains claims that different members of YSL tried to kill a rival, Rayshawn Bennett, referred to as the rapper YFN Lucci, by stabbing him on the Fulton County Jail. (Mr. Bennett is awaiting trial following a 2021 RICO indictment towards YFN in Fulton County.)
On Monday, the choose within the YSL case, Ural Glanville, referred to as for a recess, citing a “medical situation” involving one of many trial individuals. He referred to as for the legal professionals to return to court docket on Tuesday morning to determine how they might proceed.
After court docket adjourned on Monday, Choose Glanville filed two orders within the case associated to Mr. Stillwell. One acknowledged that Mr. Schardt and his colleagues might go to Mr. Stillwell at Atlanta’s Grady Hospital, the place he was being handled, “to the extent that it’s medically cleared.” The opposite ordered that Mr. Stillwell, upon his restoration, be “saved separate from the opposite defendants on this case always,” together with in jail, throughout transport and on the courthouse.
The complicated RICO case from the workplace of the prosecutor Fani T. Willis initially included 28 defendants, a lot of whom have pleaded responsible or had their circumstances severed. Because the preliminary indictments in Could 2022, the case has seen disruptions from all sides, together with practically 10 months of jury choice.
Opening arguments started on Nov. 27; the trial might last as long as six months or extra.
“We’ve invested a considerable amount of time on this case to organize for trial,” Mr. Schardt, the lawyer for Mr. Stillwell, stated. “Fairly frankly, we would like Shannon to have his day in court docket as a result of we consider that he’s harmless. We don’t need pointless delays, however we’re going to defer to the docs.”
