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A juror in Young Thug's YSL RICO trial skipped jury duty to travel to the Caribbean, and the judge reportedly punished her by ordering her to write a 30-page essay on the importance of jury duty.
The trial's jury selection procedure is still ongoing as the judge attempts to choose a jury that will ultimately decide the destinies of Young Thug and his 13 co-defendants. This week's proceedings started off strangely when one of the jurors failed to show up and it was claimed they had traveled to the Dominican Republic. On Thursday, January 12, the woman appeared and received a reprimand from Judge Ural Glanville.
While appearing with her own attorney, the woman claimed that she tried to notify jury services of her plans after arriving at the courthouse last week and sent an email with a copy of her travel schedule. Glanville dispatched Fulton deputies to her grandmother's house to look for her when she failed to appear on Monday.
Even though she informed the court she “didn’t really know I was in violation until the sheriff showed up.” She continued. “I thought I was following directions.”
The juror informed Glanville that because of her frequent business travels, she didn't get her summons until late December. Late in November, jury summons for the RICO trial involving the rapper Young Thug and more than a dozen alleged "Young Slime Life" gang members were mailed to Fulton County residents.
According to court records, Glanville declared the juror in contempt for failing to show up for the required jury duty. A conviction for contempt of court carries a penalty of up to $1,000 in fines and 20 days in prison. According to court records, Glanville mandated that she compose the essay with a focus on Georgia's history of jury duty in order to "purge herself of this contempt."
“Years ago, people who looked like us couldn’t serve on juries,” Glanville told the woman Shaddi Abusaid from AJR reports. Both the judge and the juror are Black. “It was prohibited.”
The judge mandated that the essay be written in APA style, which is typically used for academic writings, and contain 10 primary sources and 10 secondary sources. Additionally, it will be checked for plagiarism using software.
The woman was told to return to court on February 13 to discuss the essay with the judge; it is due in three weeks. According to the Glanville-signed directive, noncompliance could lead to additional penalties. She is currently excused from serving on the jury.