Young Thug’s defense lawyer used his long-awaited cross-examination of key prosecution witness Kenneth “Woody” Copeland on Tuesday to cast Copeland as a career criminal who may have been the one actually responsible for the 2015 murder at the heart of Young Thug’s problem-plagued gang and racketeering prosecution in Georgia.
During an entire day of tense questioning, lawyer Brian Steel grilled Copeland over his prior felony convictions, his public boasts about being a “gangster,” and the claim that Copeland was involved in a heated conflict with Donovan “Nut” Thomas Jr. over items Copeland allegedly stole from Thomas’ car shortly before Thomas was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside an Atlanta barbershop on Jan. 10, 2015. Steel got Copeland to confirm that he had heard Thomas wanted him “physically” harmed as retribution. The exchange could prove significant if it raises enough reasonable doubt for jurors over who killed Thomas.
Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, isn’t specifically charged with Thomas’ murder in the sprawling 65-count indictment that landed the Grammy-winning rapper in jail more than two years ago. But prosecutors allege Williams is the head of a Bloods-affiliate gang called Young Slime Life that carried out Thomas’ murder to help consolidate power. Two weeks ago, prosecutors played a June 2015 police interview for jurors in which Copeland claimed Williams met a group of alleged YSL members at a Texaco gas station to switch cars and give them his rented Infinity for the drive-by shooting. Williams, who has no prior criminal record, has pleaded not guilty to being the kingpin of a violent gang and vehemently denies having anything to do with Thomas’ murder. Copeland, meanwhile, has disavowed anything in his police interviews that implicates Williams. He said repeatedly during his direct examination by prosecutors that he concocted the story about Williams’ alleged connection to Thomas’ murder because he was under arrest on a gun charge during the interrogation and was trying to offer a “big fish” to make a deal so he could avoid going back to jail.
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Before confronting Copeland with questions about his own alleged dispute with Thomas, Williams’ defense lawyer asked if Copeland was aware that Williams and Thomas were friends who shot a music video together for a song titled “In My Blood” on Dec. 4, 2014 – just a month before Thomas’ murder. Copeland said he didn’t know.
Steel also asked Copeland if he was spinning one of his self-professed lies when he told police that Williams was upset with a man named Kelvin “Shell Kell” Watts, one of Thomas’ closest associates, shortly before Thomas was murdered. Copeland told Steel that he concocted the story he told police in his June 2015 interview about meeting Thomas outside a gambling house shortly before brokering a Facetime call in which Williams allegedly told Watts he wouldn’t “let shit go” until Watts paid for a truck windshield shattered in a purported shooting.
“I never had no conversation with Nut outside the gambling house,” Copeland testified Tuesday. “I never had a conversation with him.”
Steel eventually turned more adversarial, accusing Copeland of breaking into Thomas’ Tahoe and stealing his cell phone, identification, chain, and wallet. “What happened was, Mr. Donovan Thomas called his own cell phone, and you answered it and made arrangements to give him back his property, fair to say?” Steel asked. Copeland replied, “Something like that.” Copeland gave the same answer when asked if Thomas showed up with “other people in other cars” to retrieve his property. Copeland said the group was armed.
“And shortly after that, you learned that Donovan Thomas, and others, were going to hurt you, true?” Steel asked before the judge ruled he had to rephrase the question. “Did you ever listen to Donovan Thomas have a meeting with others where they discussed you?” Steel asked.
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“Yeah, I was told,” Copeland responded.
“Did you believe that on the date that Donovan Thomas was killed that he and others, his friends, had a plan to hurt you, physically?” Steel asked.
“I was told that,” Copeland responded.
At other points during the cross-examination, Steel stood over Copeland and walked him through a stack of court filings related to his indictments and convictions for crimes including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, making terroristic threats, theft, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Steel also confronted Copeland over a 2020 video interview with Off The Porch in which Copeland said, “I don’t want to be labeled as nothing but a gangster.”
In his opening statement in the case last November, Steel told jurors that Copeland was a violent criminal who may have killed Thomas and then blamed Williams to cover his tracks. “This is a big witness,” Steel told Judge Paige Reese Whitaker two weeks ago, referring to Copeland outside the presence of the jury. “I opened on him. I said that Mr. Copeland killed Donovan Thomas.”
During the cross-examination Tuesday, Steel asked Copeland if he knew that at one point he was charged with Thomas’ murder. Copeland said he was locked up on a weapons case at the time but he was aware. The murder charge was later dropped. Prosecutors now allege that a group of men including alleged YSL members Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick were in the car that fired on Thomas outside the barbershop. Stillwell and Kendrick are two of Williams’ five co-defendants currently on trial with him and have pleaded not guilty.
When he had a few minutes to start his cross-examination of Copeland late in the day on Monday, Steel wasted no time letting the jury know Copeland had been threatened with jail time by prosecutors if he refused to testify or tried to claim that he was the one who murdered Thomas. Steel picked up the line of questioning when Copeland returned to the stand Tuesday.
“Did District Attorney [Simone] Hylton tell you that if you testified that you were involved with the Donovan Thomas murder that you would be locked up or arrested?” Steel asked, referring to the secret meeting between Copeland and prosecutors in Judge Ural Glanville’s chambers that sparked the series of events that led to Judge Glanville’s removal from the case last month.
After first trying to evade the question, Copeland answered, “Yes.” He answered “yes” again when asked if he was threatened with jail time if he refused to testify under his immunity agreement with prosecutors.
During his 12 days of questioning by prosecutors — of which three full days were stricken from the record due to Judge Glanville’s recusal — Copeland rolled his eyes, yawned repeatedly, profusely proclaimed he lied to police to get them “off” him, and coined the “I don’t recall” catchphrase that turned him into a meme.
Steel is expected to continue his cross examination Wednesday, with lawyers for three other co-defendants expected to follow. After Copeland, the next expected witness in the case is Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge, an alleged co-founder of YSL who accepted a plea agreement.
According to prosecutors, Williams and his alleged YSL gang carried out drug sales, shootings, and at least three murders as they created a “crater” of crime in Atlanta. Under the indictment, Williams is charged with racketeering conspiracy, gang participation, and drug and firearm possession. In addition to Thomas’ slaying, Stillwell also is charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks. Another co-defendant in the trial, Rodalius Ryan, was previously convicted in the 2019 murder of 15-year-old Jamari Holmes, which is cited in the indictment.
Seventy-five witnesses have testified so far in the high-profile trial. Prosecutors say they intend to call at least 100 more. After that, lawyers for each of the six defendants will have a chance to call their own witnesses. The trial is expected to last through the end of the year, possibly into February or March, Judge Whitaker recently said outside the earshot of jurors.
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The proceeding is the longest in state history and has become a pressure point for Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtney Kramer, the Republican running to unseat Willis, has said that dismissing the YSL case would be her “first official action” if elected. In a statement, Kramer challenged Willis to dismiss the case immediately and “release the accused… who are being held without bond.”
“With no apparent justice in sight, I have become highly concerned and disappointed in the lack of prosecutorial oversight in this case,” Kramer said. “As time goes on, the public has witnessed a trial that is undoubtedly over prosecuted by attorneys who have repeatedly been admonished for lack of trial preparation: a complete and utter waste of the court’s time.”
