Yak Gotti pictured in 2021.
Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage
The YSL trial came to an end on Tuesday (December 3) with the final defendants, Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell, cleared of the murder, racketeering, and gang charges against them, The New York Times reports.
The moment the verdict was read!
Yak Gotti: NOT GUILTY on all charges
Shannon: NOT GUILTY on charges except Count 64, firearm possession (time served) #YSLTRIAL pic.twitter.com/SyjNBoMkyT
— THUGGERDAILY ひ (@ThuggerDaily) December 3, 2024
The verdict brought a close to the longest criminal trial in Georgia history, which started in January 2023 and originally involved six YSL defendants facing RICO charges. Four of those defendants, including Young Thug, made pleas in October. Thug pleaded no contest and was freed on a 15-year probation sentence.
On Tuesday a jury refuted the prosecutors for the first time, finding Kendrick and Stillwell not guilty of various murder, gang, gun, and drug charges. Stillwell was found guilty on a firearm charge and received a 10-year prison sentence, with judge Paige Reese Whitaker converting it to eight years probation and commuted the remaining two to time served.
In the run-up to the final days of the trial Kendrick was stabbed in jail. He was seen in court as the jury deliberated with “four or five staples” in his head, per local reports. The attack took place a year after Stillwell was stabbed in a similar incident in December 2023.