With the 49 jurors selected for Young Thug’s – real name Jeffery Williams – RICO trial, the court is questioning whether Williams’s lyrics can be used as evidence.
Fulton County Chief Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville was set to hear motions as to whether Williams’s song lyrics could be used against him. Glanville, however, began seating an actual jury, more than nine months after the selection and screening progress had begun.
About the uncertainty of admissability, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said “If you decide to admit your crimes over a beat, I’m going to use it.”
“I believe in the First Amendment,” Willis has said. “However, the First Amendment does not protect people from prosecutors using it as evidence if it is such.”
The jury selection for the case has lasted longer than any other trial in Georgia history, with Williams facing eight criminal counts under a federal law originally enacted to fight organized crime.
In late April, The Restoring Artistic Protection Act, or RAP Act, which would require prosecutors to prove a defendant’s lyrics aren’t figurative, exaggeration or outright fictional, was reintroduced.
The act would limit the admissibility of evidence of an artist’s creative or artistic expression against that artist in court.
A court spokesperson said opening statements could begin on Nov. 27th.
