State v. Williams, the YSL RICO prosecution
A 56 count RICO indictment named 28 defendants and alleged that a record label also operated as a criminal street gang. Jury selection alone ran about ten months. The trial became the longest in Georgia history, and the client left jail the night of the plea.
In May 2022 the artist Jeffery Williams was arrested at his Atlanta home and charged with 27 others in a 56 count racketeering indictment. Prosecutors alleged that his record label also operated as a criminal street gang, and sought to introduce his song lyrics as evidence of intent. Brian Steel acted as lead defense counsel and argued that the use of lyrics was an attack on free speech.
Jury selection took about ten months. The trial itself ran more than 22 months, making it the longest in Georgia history. The client was repeatedly denied bail and remained in custody throughout.
In June 2024 Steel told the court that the presiding judge had held a meeting with prosecutors and a key witness without notifying the defense. Asked to reveal how he learned of it and threatened with contempt, he refused. He was held in criminal contempt and sentenced to 20 days, and asked to serve the sentence alongside his client so they could continue preparing. The Georgia Supreme Court later reversed the contempt order unanimously, holding that the judge should have recused himself from the contempt proceeding. The judge was subsequently removed from the case.
Under the replacement judge, prosecutors faced the prospect of a mistrial. A plea offer that would have sent the client home immediately carried restrictions on his future work, and he and Steel declined it, choosing instead to plead guilty without an agreed sentence and ask the court to release him. Prosecutors asked for 45 years. The court imposed time served plus 15 years of probation, and the client was released that night.
The case drew sustained national attention. The rapper Drake later released a song named for Steel.