Defendant in YSL gang and racketeering trial stabbed as he awaits jury verdict

ATLANTA — One of two men who was indicted along with rapper Young Thug and was stabbed in jail but appeared in court Monday, as jurors deliberated another day without reaching a verdict.

Attorney Doug Weinstein confirmed that his client, Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was injured Sunday. Jurors began deliberating last Tuesday over whether to convict Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell on gang, murder, drug and gun charges.

Kendrick returned to court with four or five staples in his head, Weinstein said during a press conference outside the Fulton County Courthouse, but “he’s doing really well.”

“It’s a shame that anyone that’s held in our jails have to go through that,” Weinstein said.

Natalie Ammons, Fulton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, said in an email that Kendrick and another detainee got in a fight at the jail's south annex in Union City. Kendrick was treated for “minor injuries from a sharp object,” she wrote. An investigation into the fight is underway, she said.

Weinstein complained it was difficult for him to get answers from the Fulton County Sheriff's Office about what happened, but he thinks Kendrick was stabbed with “some type of an improvised shank.”

Kendrick is hardly thinking about the stabbing, Weinstein said. Instead, he's preoccupied with the impending verdict as jurors continue to deliberate a year after opening statements began.

“Deamonte does not want to be in jail, and this incident does not make things any better,” Weinstein said. “But he’s there. He knows, or at least he hopes and is confident, that he's going to be out soon.”

Kendrick's co-defendant, Shannon Stillwell, was stabbed at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta last year, which put the long-running trial on pause.

Kendrick and Stillwell were among 28 people indicted along with Young Thug in May 2022 on charges including conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Jury selection for the trial of six of those defendants began nearly two years ago.

Four of the defendants, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty in October. The rapper, whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was freed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

The jury started deliberating last Tuesday afternoon and was dismissed at 5 p.m. Jurors deliberated for about six hours Wednesday before breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday. Deliberations will resume Tuesday morning.