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Young Thug was sentenced to 15 years probation and no prison time after pleading guilty in the long-running criminal case accusing him of leading a violent Atlanta street gang, a stunning end to a legal saga that rocked the music industry.

After days of closed-door negotiations with Fulton County prosecutors, Thug (Jeffery Williams) refused Thursday (Oct. 31) to take a plea deal that would have sent him home immediately. Instead, he opted for a non-negotiated guilty plea, leaving his fate in the hands of Judge Paige Reese Whitaker.

The move paid off: Later on Thursday, Whitaker sentenced Thug to only 15 years probation with no time to be served in prison, meaning that he would be set free on Thursday after more than two years in custody. In doing so, she urged the Grammy-winning rapper to use his platform to set a good example for young people in the future.

“I know you’re talented, and if you choose to continue to rap, you need to try to use your influence to let kids know that is not the way to go and that there are ways out of poverty besides hooking up with the powerful guy at the end of the street selling drugs,” Whitaker said.

Thug’s guilty plea marks a key turning point in a criminal case that has captivated the music industry for more than two years. Pitting prosecutors in America’s rap capital against one of hip-hop’s biggest stars, the YSL case has raised big questions — about the fairness of the criminal justice system; about violent personas in modern hip-hop; and about prosecutors using rap lyrics as evidence.

Standing before the judge at a tense hearing Thursday, Thug pleaded guilty to several counts, including possession of drugs and firearms, and pleaded no contest to several others, including the core racketeering accusations that alleged he was the leader of a criminal gang.

Without the negotiated plea deal, prosecutors recommended a far harsher sentence than they had offered: a whopping 45 years, with 25 served in prison and 20 years on probation. Thug’s attorney, Brian Steel, then offered an extended rebuttal to the state’s claims and urged leniency. Finally, Thug himself spoke, saying he took “full responsibility for my crimes” and pleading with the judge to see that he has “a good heart.”

“I just hope that you find it in your heart to allow me to go home and be with my family and just do better as a person,” the artist told the judge.

After she handed down her sentence, the judge offered a quick warning to Thug before adjourning for the day: “Good luck to you. And there better be no violations, but if there are any, you’re coming back to see me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Thug said back.

Thursday’s guilty plea came days after the trial was thrown into chaos by botched testimony from a state’s witness, sparking talk of a mistrial. Since then, prosecutors and defendants have struck a slew of deals rather than risk starting over from scratch in the trial, which has already stretched across 10 months of jury selection and 11 months of testimony to become the longest-ever in state history.

Thug, a chart-topping rapper and producer who helped shape the sound of hip-hop in the 2010s, was arrested in May 2022 along with dozens of others. In a sweeping indictment, prosecutors alleged that his “YSL” — nominally a record label standing for “Young Stoner Life” — was also a violent gang called “Young Slime Life” that had wrought “havoc” on the Atlanta area for nearly a decade.

The case, built around Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, claimed that YSL had committed murders, carjackings, drug dealing and many other crimes. And prosecutors alleged that Thug was “King Slime,” operating as a criminal boss amid his rise to fame. “It does not matter what your notoriety is, what your fame is,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at the time. “We are going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Thug strongly denied the accusations and has long maintained his innocence. On the opening day of the trial, his attorney Steel argued that despite a difficult local upbringing, Thug “doesn’t even know most of the people in this indictment” and had no reason to run a criminal organization.

From the start, the YSL case has been beset by delays. Starting in January 2023, it took an unprecedented 10-month process just to pick a jury. After the trial itself got underway in November 2023, prosecutors meandered through a vast list of witnesses that included a stunning 737 names. There was also a jailhouse stabbing of one defendant, as well as a bizarre episode over a secret meeting with a witness that resulted in the presiding judge being removed from the case.

While the slow-moving trial dragged on, Thug sat in jail for more than two years, repeatedly denied release on bond over fears that he might intimidate witnesses.

Though Thug is now going home, the YSL case is not over.

Attorneys for co-defendants Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell said their clients had refused plea deals on Thursday, meaning they will continue to face trial and move toward an eventual verdict. Kendrick and Stillwell stand accused of carrying out the 2015 murder of rival gang leader Donovan Thomas, a crime that figures prominently in the prosecution’s case.