Young Thug pleads guilty in YSL trial, will serve probation

The trial of Atlanta rapper Young Thug has ended in a guilty plea. Late in Thursday's proceedings, the 33-year-old artist, whose real name is Jeffrery Williams, changed his plea in the RICO case to guilty and no contest on several gang, gun and drug charges.

Following a dramatic series of events in what has become the longest-running criminal trial in Georgia, Williams is being sent home. The government's attorneys asked for a sentence of 45 years — 25 in prison and 20 on probation — but Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker delivered a sentence that allowed Williams to go free immediately. “The total sentence is 40 years, to serve the first 5 years in prison but commuted to the time you've already served,” she stated during the proceedings.

Williams had been in custody for more than two years, since initially being indicted in 2022. He will serve 15 years of probation, backloaded by a 20-year sentence that may be served in custody depending on his probation. He is also required to stay out of the metro Atlanta area for the first 10 years of his probation, barring certain guidelines, which include returning to the city to make a live anti-gang and anti-violence public presentation to children at a school or community organization several times a year. In the days leading up to Thursday's hearing, three of Williams' co-defendants pleaded guilty in deals with the prosecution.