ATLANTA — Georgia’s highest court on Tuesday reversed a judge’s contempt ruling against a lawyer for rapper Young Thug who refused to tell the judge how he found out about a meeting between the judge, prosecutors and a prosecution witness.
Defense attorney Brian Steel represents the rapper, who is currently on trial in Atlanta on numerous charges including violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering and gang laws. Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville in June found Steel in contempt and ordered him to spend the next 10 weekends in jail, an order that was put on hold pending Steel’s appeal.
Steel argued that his information was subject to attorney-client privilege, that he didn’t interfere with the court’s proceedings and that Glanville was required under due process to recuse himself from the contempt proceeding since Steel was accusing the judge of wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court justices agreed with Steel that due process required Glanville to remove himself from the handling of the contempt issue.
“Because the court delayed punishment, the alleged disobedience was directed toward the court, and the court was involved in the controversy that formed the basis of the contempt, due process required the judge to recuse from the contempt proceeding. We therefore reverse the contempt imposed by the trial court,” Presiding Justice Nels Peterson wrote in the unanimous opinion.
Young Thug, a Grammy winner whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was charged two years ago in a sprawling indictment accusing him and more than two dozen other people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He also is charged with gang, drug and gun crimes and is standing trial with five of the others indicted with him.
Jury selection in the case began in January 2023 and took nearly 10 months. Opening statements were in November and the prosecution has been presenting its case since then, calling dozens of witnesses.
In open court on June 10, Steel told Glanville that he had learned of a meeting in the judge’s chambers that morning and proceeded to move for a mistrial. In an order finding Steel in contempt and ordering him jailed, Glanville wrote that he had “serious concern with how this information was improperly disclosed” to Steel.
While the judge asserted that Steel had information he shouldn’t have had, Steel had argued that the information hadn’t been declared confidential by any court order.
Glanville was removed from the long-running case in July over that meeting that he held with prosecutors and a state witness. Another judge granted motions from two defendants seeking Glanville’s recusal, saying she did not fault Glanville for holding the meeting but that “the ‘necessity of preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system’ weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville” from the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has taken over the case, which is expected to extend into next year.