The lawyer representing rapper Young Thug in his ongoing RICO lawsuit has reportedly found himself in legal trouble.
Attorney Brian Steele was taken into custody Monday on suspicion of contempt of court, according to WSB-TV, Fox 5 and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Steele was arrested by courtroom officers after he refused to tell Judge Ural Glanville how he learned about the closed-door meeting between prosecutors in the case. “You got information you shouldn’t have gotten,” Glanville told Steele, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Steele Law Firm and Young Thug’s representatives for comment.
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Following Judge Glanville’s order, courtroom footage provided to Fox 5 and WSB-TV shows Steele removing his suit jacket, tie and other clothing as he is taken into custody.
Before leaving the courtroom, Judge Steele told Judge Glanville that Young Thug did not intend for the trial to continue without him. “You’re trying to remove me against his will, against my will, and take away my right to have an attorney,” he told the judge.
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Young Thug is facing a racketeering trial in Atlanta after being accused of co-founding a violent street gang and using his music to promote the gang. The trial resumed in January after being postponed to December 2023. The YSL rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, is facing charges including racketeering and violating Georgia’s gang laws.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Young Thug in May 2022. A second indictment in August 2022 charged Young Thug and 27 others with conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-gang statute, known as RICO. The indictment includes 65 felony charges, six of which apply to Young Thug.
Young Thug trial judge continues hearing after Brian Steele’s arrest
According to Fox 5 and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the altercation that allegedly led to Steele’s arrest on Monday occurred when his lawyer confronted Judge Granville about a conversation the prosecution had had with a witness, Kenneth Copeland.
Steele said he heard prosecutor Simone Hilton tell Copeland that she might hold him in custody until all of the defendants’ cases are concluded. “If that’s true, this is coercion, this is witness intimidation and this is ex parte communication that we have a constitutional right to be present to,” Steele told the judge, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Steele’s revelations led to some tense exchanges between lawyers and the judge.
“I still want to know, how did you get this information? Who told you?” Glanville asked, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Steele responded, “What I want to know is, why wasn’t I there?”
Glanville, who received an order to remove Steele from court for contempt of court, remained adamant that the trial continue, despite protests from Young Thug’s other lawyer, Keith Adams. “I’m not going to stop anything,” Glanville told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Glanville added that leaking information from a prosecutorial conference “violates the sanctity of the judge’s chambers.”
Contributing: Tyjuan Moorman, USA Today staff and wire services
