Fani Willis, After Collapse of Her Case, Pushes To Send Young Thug Back to Prison — for ‘Threatening a Gang Investigator’

A motion that could send the rapper Jeffery Lamar Williams, known as Young Thug, back to prison underscores the willingness of the district attorney of Georgia’s Fulton County, Fani Willis, to take dramatic steps when she is under fire.Ms. Willis’s office this week filed a motion to revoke Williams’s probation. That sentence, part of a plea deal which followed a racketeering case that was the longest criminal trial in Georgia’s history but that ended in a raft of acquittals and plea deals, was dependent on conditions that include abstaining from any contact with victims, witnesses, and their families.Williams, a chart-topping hip-hop artist, was accused by Ms. Willis of presiding over a murderous gang called Young Slime Life that terrorized downtown Atlanta. In a polarizing move, Ms. Willis used Williams’s rap lyrics as evidence of criminality. Williams denied the allegations, saying his YSL record label stood for Young Stoner Life and that the “thug” in his name stood for “Truly Humble Under God.” The long-running trial devolved into a circus, with multiple judges, ugly feuds between one of the judges and a defense attorney, and a key prosecution witness suddenly changing his story. Eventually, with the case collapsing, Ms. Willis agreed to a plea deal under which Williams pleaded guilty to some charges but was sentenced to time served. Williams was incarcerated for 900 days, first in the notorious Fulton County Jail — where President Trump was famously booked and photographed — and then in the less dungeonesque Cobb County Detention Center. Two of Ms. Willis’s defendants who did not accept plea deals were acquitted. Fani Willis’s RICO prosecution of the rapper Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffery Williams, was the longest-running trial in the history of the state of Georgia. Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via APNow Ms. Willis writes to Judge Paige Whitaker — the third judge assigned to the case after the previous two judges had to recuse themselves — that Williams ought to be remanded back into custody because he “presents a clear and present danger to public safety and undermines the rule of law.” Williams’s guilty plea, as part of a deal with Ms. Willis, amounted to confessing to gun, drug, and gang-related charges. His lawyers insist that the plea was a strategy to avoid further jail time.Williams could have faced up to 120 years behind bars if he was convicted, and the terms of his plea deal were unusually strict, including forfeiture of his Fourth Amendment rights. The judge mandated that his probation last for 15 years, with the possibility of a 20-year term in prison if he violates its terms, as he is now accused of doing. He is also barred from entering metropolitan Atlanta — which is enormous — for a decade, prohibited from associating with gang members, and subjected to random drug tests. Williams’s lawyer, in a statement, calls Ms. Willis’s motion “baseless” and anticipates “seeking a dismissal of this petition.” At issue is a social media post made by Williams in which he reposted a video to X captioned: “Marissa Viverito is the biggest liar in the DA’s office.” Ms. Viverito is a gang investigator in Ms. Willis’s office who testified during the YSL trial and is currently involved in other prosecutions. Judge Whitaker barred any videotaping of Ms. Viverito, but someone managed to smuggle out the footage and appended to it the caption: “She doesn’t want to be shown on screen? Well, here she is.”Williams’s repost of that contraband video amassed more than two million views. Another user posted a listing that purported to be of Ms. Viverito’s mother’s house, along with the gloss, “If the hate is really real then pull up on her mama crib.” Another user vowed to “personally make sure Fani Willis is assassinated.” Williams also reposted a message that read: “all my homies hate Viverito.” The district attorney’s office calls this a campaign of “intimidation, harassment, and misinformation.” Ms. Willis argues for the revocation of Williams’s bail by contending that the “escalation from targeting a testifying witness to making direct death threats against the elected District Attorney of Fulton County represents a grave and unprecedented attack on the justice system.” Williams, though, posted to his personal X account: “I don’t make threats to people I’m a good person, I would never condone anyone threatening anyone or definitely participate in threatening anyone. I’m all about peace and love.”That could be too little and too late if Judge Whitaker is persuaded by the district attorney’s argument that Williams “has engaged in conduct that directly threatens the safety of witnesses and prosecutors, compromises ongoing legal proceedings, and warrants immediate revocation of probation.” Ms. Willis’s other racketeering case, against President Trump and 18 others, is on ice after she was disqualified for a secret romance with her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. She is appealing that determination to the Georgia supreme court, which possesses the power of discretionary appeal to overturn the ruling of the Georgia court of appeals. Williams is scheduled to perform at the “Summer Smash” music festival at Chicago in June. Day passes are selling for $350.

Fani Willis, After Collapse of Her Case, Pushes To Send Young Thug Back to Prison — for ‘Threatening a Gang Investigator’

Fani Willis, After Collapse of Her Case, Pushes To Send Young Thug Back to Prison — for ‘Threatening a Gang Investigator’

More from the New York Sun

Apple’s HomeView Is the Best Smart Display Yet — but You Still May Not Need It

Bill Irwin Serves Up a Comic Master Class in ‘The Imaginary Invalid’

Why Amazon’s A-List Stars Are Giving its Studio Bad Reviews

Push Is on To Restore Constitutional Balance in Dealing With Natural Disasters

Justice Department Indicts Powerful Virginia State Senator on Drug-Trafficking, Money-Laundering Charges

The End Is Near for Iran

Israel’s Economic Miracle

Republicans Mock ‘October Surprise’ Exposé on Lindsey Graham, Saying Stunt Could Bolster Sister’s Campaign

More from the New York Sun

Apple’s HomeView Is the Best Smart Display Yet — but You Still May Not Need It

Bill Irwin Serves Up a Comic Master Class in ‘The Imaginary Invalid’

Why Amazon’s A-List Stars Are Giving its Studio Bad Reviews

Push Is on To Restore Constitutional Balance in Dealing With Natural Disasters

Justice Department Indicts Powerful Virginia State Senator on Drug-Trafficking, Money-Laundering Charges

The End Is Near for Iran

Israel’s Economic Miracle

Republicans Mock ‘October Surprise’ Exposé on Lindsey Graham, Saying Stunt Could Bolster Sister’s Campaign