YSL defendant Yak Gotti, real name Deamonte Kendrick, is refusing a plea deal and opting to stand trial. Young Thug, however, has accepted a plea.
“Yak Gotti has rejected the State’s latest plea offer and fully intends to take this to the jury and get our not guilty verdicts and go home,” attorney Douglas Weinstein told 11Alive’s Grace King on Thursday.
This week’s plea agreements left just three individuals from the original 28 indicted still facing trial: Young Thug, Shannon Stillwell, and Yak Gotti. On Thursday, the “Ski” rapper decided to take a non-negotiated. Prosecutors are asking that he serve 25 years in prison.
Previous plea-takers this week include Quamarvious Nichols on Tuesday, followed by Rodalius Ryan and Marquavius Huey on Wednesday. The reasons behind the flurry of plea agreements likely tie back to the threat of a mistrial that loomed over the case last week. This came after a surprising courtroom slip-up involving rapper Slimelife Shawty, who testified and read an unredacted social media caption aloud to the jury, inadvertently revealing the hashtag #FreeQua. This error prompted defense teams to call for a mistrial, as the jury was not meant to know which defendants were incarcerated. Although Judge Whitaker ruled out a mistrial with prejudice, she left open the option for a mistrial without prejudice, which would end the current proceedings but allow for a retrial.
The trial, which started in November 2023, has already set a record as the longest in Georgia’s history.
