DEVELOPING Defence rests without Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
Opening statements are expected next week in Atlanta in the trial of rapper Young Thug, who's accused of co-founding a violent criminal street gang and using his music to promote it.
The Atlanta-based artist, whose given name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, is charged with violating Georgia's anti-racketeering and gang laws, among other things.
He was indicted last year along with more than two dozen other people, five of whom are set to stand trial with him. The trial is projected to last months and will likely include testimony from a number of high-profile music industry figures.
Prosecutors are expected to take the controversial step of using Young Thug's rap lyrics as evidence against him.
Here are some things to know as the trial gets underway:
WHO IS YOUNG THUG?
Young Thug's eccentric style and mumble rap -- along with breakout hits such as Stoner and Best Friend -- have made him popular. His squeaky high-pitched vocals can be heard in the background of Childish Gambino's This is America, a social-political hit that became the first hip-hop track to win the song of the year Grammy Award. Young Thug won a Grammy in 2019 for his co-writing efforts on the track, which included 21 Savage, Quavo, BlocBoy JB, Slim Jxmmi of the duo Rae Sremmurd. He has had several mixtapes and three studio albums including his recent Business is Business music project, which was released in June.
Young Thug has collaborated with some of music's best including Drake, Chris Brown, T.I. and Travis Scott. Elton John called working with Young Thug an "amazing moment" after recording the song Always Love You featuring Nicki Minaj and Gunna. Young Thug has three chart-topping songs including Havana with Camila Cabello, Way 2 Sexy with Drake and Future and Franchise featuring Travis Scott and M.I.A. He signed with Gucci Mane's 1017 Records in 2013.
In a hyper-masculine hip-hop scene, Young Thug refused to play by traditional gender rules. He wore a dress on the cover of his 2016 mixtape Jeffery and said there's no such thing as gender as part of a Calvin Klein campaign. On social media, some noticed Young Thug referencing his male friends as "bae," "lover" and "hubby."
Young Thug grew up in a rough suburban Atlanta housing project where crime was the norm. He became a father at the age of 17 and currently has six children. Prosecutors have painted Young Thug as a gang leader known as King Slime, someone who calls the shots and directs others to engage in criminal activity.
WHAT ARE THE CHARGES YOUNG THUG FACES?
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Young Thug in May 2022, and more charges were added in a subsequent indictment in August of that year. The second indictment accuses Young Thug and 27 other people of conspiring to violate Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The rapper is also accused of participation in criminal street gang activity, as well as drug and gun charges.
Prosecutors say Young Thug and two other people co-founded a violent criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they say is associated with the national Bloods gang. The indictment says Young Thug "made YSL a well-known name by referring to it in his songs and on social media."
In addition to specific charges, the August indictment includes a wide-ranging list of 191 acts that prosecutors say were committed between 2013 and 2022 as part of the alleged conspiracy to further the gang's interests. Included in that list is an allegation that Young Thug threatened in July 2015 to shoot a security guard who was trying to get him to leave an Atlanta-area mall. The indictment also says Young Thug rented a silver Infiniti sedan that was used in the killing of a rival gang member. And, on numerous occasions, he and others are alleged to have possessed various illegal drugs that they intended to distribute.
WHAT DO YOUNG THUG'S DEFENCE LAWYERS SAY?
Young Thug's lawyers have said in multiple court filings that he is innocent of all crimes charged in the indictment. They argue YSL is simply a record label. The rapper has pleaded not guilty. Multiple defence attorneys in the case have said prosecutors were overzealous in their use of the RICO statute and the anti-gang law, both of which carry heavy penalties.
WHO ELSE IS CHARGED?
Rapper Gunna, whose given name is Sergio Kitchens, was charged with a single count of racketeering conspiracy. He entered an Alford plea in December, which means he maintains his innocence but recognizes that it's in his best interest to plead guilty. During Gunna's plea hearing, the rapper responded, "Yes, ma'am" when when a prosecutor said that "YSL is a music label and a gang" and that he had knowledge that its members or associates had committed crimes in furtherance of the gang.
The other two people accused of co-founding the YSL gang -- Walter Murphy and Trontavious Stephens -- were also charged. They each pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-racketeering law.
WHAT HAS YOUNG THUG BEEN DOING SINCE HIS ARREST?
Young Thug has been in jail since his arrest on May 9, 2022, having been denied bond several times since then. More than a year after he was jailed, Young Thug surprisingly released his third studio album Business is Business, which was executive produced by Metro Boomin. The album -- which featured Drake, Future and Lil Uzi Vert -- debuted No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Young Thug's album dropped a week after Gunna released his new project.
WHAT PENALTIES DOES YOUNG THUG FACE IF HE'S CONVICTED?
Young Thug's racketeering conspiracy charge and two gang charges each carry a penalty of five to 20 years in prison. The other five charges also carry potential prison time.
WHAT'S NEXT IN YOUNG THUG'S CASE?
Jury selection began in January. At that time, 14 of the 28 people charged in the indictment were set to be tried together. That number has dwindled to six after some defendants either took plea deals or were separated to be tried later. It took nearly 10 months to seat a jury, which is highly unusual. It took so long for a variety of reasons. For one, the trial is expected to last for months, meaning many potential jurors had legitimate hardship excuses that allowed them to get out of hearing the case. There were also many complications that caused delays, including challenges in getting defendants housed in different jails to court each day, contraband brought to court, and the arrests of a defence attorney and a courtroom deputy.
A jury of 12 people -- nine women and three men -- and six alternates was finally selected on Nov. 1. Opening statements are set to begin Monday and the trial is expected to last anywhere from several months to a year.
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.
As the month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores wears on, small independent food retailers and alternative grocery options say they're seeing a boost in traffic and sales.
For those who go to their local libraries often, they know there’s much more to their library than just borrowing books. Local libraries in Atlantic Canada are now renting out a broader range of items for people.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.