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After a very lengthy trial, American rapper Young Thug has been released from prison on probation after pleading guilty to gang and gun related charges.
In 2022, the rapper was charged in an indictment accusing him and more than two dozen other people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law; he was also charged with gang, drug, and gun crimes.
On Thursday, October 31, 2024, he was released after pleading guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges, and two gun charges. He also entered a no-contest plea to another gang charge and a racketeering conspiracy charge, meaning that he decided not to contest those charges and accepted the punishment for them.
After hearing sentencing recommendations from both sides, the judge in the case, Paige Reese Whitaker, sentenced Young Thug to time served plus 15 years of probation.
Jury selection at the courthouse in Atlanta began in January 2023 and took nearly 10 months. The trial of six defendants began with opening statements last November, and prosecutors since then have called dozens of witnesses.
Three of his co-defendants had already pleaded guilty this week after reaching deals with prosecutors. The pleas have left the fates of two other co-defendants currently still undecided.
Nine people charged in the indictment accepted plea deals before the trial began. Twelve others are being tried separately. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.