Inside Young Thug's choice to take a plea deal and reunite with family

Young Thug sat silently at the defense table Thursday, flanked by his two lawyers as he contemplated the paperwork in front of him. It was the pivotal moment of the rap superstar’s criminal trial that had the entire courtroom craning in his direction.

Facing the potential for decades in prison for allegedly violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, Young Thug stared down at the desk when Georgia Superior Court Judge Paige Whitaker asked for him to confirm that he would change his plea to guilty in his high-profile gang conspiracy case and have her decide his punishment.

“Am I misinformed?” she asked. Still, the rapper remained hesitant.

Sensing Young Thug’s struggle, the judge ordered a recess. In private, the Grammy-winning songwriter, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, continued to agonize with his lawyers about whether to accept a “blind” plea — meaning his defense and prosecutors had failed to negotiate a sentence and he’d instead leave it to the judge. This option only came about after the prosecution made a costly mistake last week, opening the door to a possible mistrial.

About 25 minutes later, Young Thug returned to the courtroom and stood before Whitaker. Yes, he was ready to put his fate in her hands.

In the end, the risky strategy paid off in a stunning decision: The judge required no prison time, instead ordering that Young Thug serve 15 years of probation with several conditions — but warned he could see 20 years in custody if he fails to adhere to them.

“I take full responsibility for my crimes and for my charges,” Young Thug, 33, told Whitaker. He pleaded guilty to various drug-, gun- and gang-related charges, but entered no contest to other gang and racketeering conspiracy charges. (By pleading no contest he accepted the convictions, but did not admit guilt.)

Atlanta rapper Young Thug at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Aug. 12, with his lawyer Keith Adams (left).Arvin Temkar / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / ABACA via Reuters file

Keith Adams, one of Young Thug’s lawyers, told NBC News on Friday that his client waffled about what to do because some of the musician’s supporters wanted him to fight the charges until the end.

“His family wanted him to continue on. But he’s a grown man and he had the opportunity to analyze all of the options,” Adams said, adding that “it was not an easy decision.”

And there was the open question of what Whitaker might impose as the rapper’s sentence.

While the defense petitioned the judge for house arrest, the prosecution wanted 45 years, with 25 years to be served in prison and 20 on probation.

“It was a consideration as to whether or not we could put our fate in the hands of the judge,” Adams said.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its case against Young Thug and an initial slate of 26 co-defendants was launched under District Attorney Fani Willis, putting another spotlight on her office, which had come under scrutiny earlier this year over the stalled case against former President Donald Trump on state racketeering charges related to the 2020 election.

Young Thug was accused of leading a street gang, Young Slime Life, or YSL, with members allegedly committing illegal and violent acts, including murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and carjacking. Prosecutors said YSL began in an Atlanta neighborhood in late 2012, with members affiliated with the national Bloods gang.

Many of the co-defendants have been jailed since 2022, and while the trial began with jury selection in early 2023, proceedings were snarled after some of them took plea deals or chose to have their cases tried separately. Since opening statements began in November 2023 against Young Thug and five co-defendants, the criminal trial has become the longest in Georgia’s history.

But even getting to the point of a plea deal would have seemed inconceivable if not for what happened last week.

While on the stand, state witness Wunnie Lee, a rapper known as Slimelife Shawty, was asked by the prosecution to review social media posts in front of the jury. But Lee was inadvertently given an unredacted version of a post that referred to the hashtag #freequa, which may apply to co-defendants Quamarvious Nichols and Marquavius Huey.

The post was redacted for the jury. But with Lee openly referring to Qua, prosecutors allowed the jury to presume that the co-defendants were in jail, a detail that was meant to be concealed because it is considered prejudicial.

That prosecutorial misstep was major enough that Whitaker suggested she would consider a mistrial motion.

And behind the scenes, Adams said, Whitaker suggested prosecutors “take a serious look” and have conversations with the co-defendants’ legal teams about plea agreements.

They spent days going back and forth. At first, Nichols agreed to a plea deal; then another co-defendant, Rodalius Ryan; and then a third, Huey.

Adams said he and Young Thug’s other lawyer, Brian Steel, wanted their client to stay through the trial. Adams believed the plea agreements were a way for the prosecution to “save face” after not only last week’s misstep, but also other issues that included the recusal of the trial’s previous judge in July.

Andrew Fleischman, a criminal defense lawyer in Georgia not associated with the case, said the threat of a mistrial likely put “a ton of pressure on both sides” to come to an agreement.

For Young Thug, the lure of potentially getting out on probation via a “blind” plea — as opposed to waiting until the end of a trial with only the possibility of an acquittal — was important.

During Young Thug’s sentencing on Thursday, Steel explained that although he “vehemently” disagreed with some of the prosecution’s claims about the rapper’s criminal dealings, the chance for his client to see his six children was too overwhelming to pass up.

“He told me, ‘I can’t wait another three months if there is any possibility I could go home, because I have children that are hurting. I have things to do,’” Steel told the judge.

Young Thug was released from the Fulton County Jail on Thursday evening. As part of his probation, he must perform community service, can’t be in contact with affiliated gang members and can’t travel in metro Atlanta.

At a news conference Thursday evening, Young Thug’s father, Jeffery Williams Sr., said he was upset with the travel prohibition and blamed Willis specifically. The district attorney is running for a second term as a Democrat in Tuesday’s election, but Williams said he was endorsing her Republican challenger, Courtney Kramer. Neither campaign could immediately be reached for comment.

Williams, meanwhile, said he would have liked to see his son formally clear his name in court.

“I feel great that he’s going home. But at the same token, I still wanted to fight,” Williams said. “But that’s his decision.”

Erik Ortiz

Erik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.