ATLANTA– Rapper Young Thug is a free man after pleading guilty to gang, drug and gun charges.

About two and a half years after he was arrested on a major gang and racketeering charge, Young Thug was released Thursday night. It was a remarkable development in a process that drags on and is plagued with problems.

Jury selection at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta began in January 2023 and lasted nearly 10 months. Prosecutors had called dozens of witnesses since opening statements in the trial of six suspects last November.

Here are some things you need to know about the plea:

Young Thug, an Atlanta-based artist whose given name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, is known for his eccentric style, mumbled rap and squeaky, high-pitched vocals. He rose to popularity with breakthrough hits like “Stoner” and “Best Friend” and co-wrote the hit “This is America” with Childish Gambino, which became the first hip-hop song to win the 2019 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

Young Thug has collaborated with other top artists including Drake, Chris Brown, TI and Travis Scott. Elton John called working with Young Thug an “amazing moment” after recording the song “Always Love You” with Nicki Minaj and Gunna.

He broke with the hip-hop scene’s hyper-masculine norms, wearing a dress on the cover of his 2016 mixtape “Jeffery” and saying gender doesn’t exist as part of a Calvin Klein campaign.

Young Thug, 33, grew up in a suburban Atlanta housing project that was marred by crime and violence.

He was originally charged and arrested on May 9, 2022, and a subsequent indictment in August added additional charges. In the second indictment, Young Thug and 27 others were charged with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The rapper was also accused of participating in criminal street gang activity, as well as drug and gun charges.

Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug and two other people in 2012 co-founded a violent criminal street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they say has ties to the national Bloods gang. The complaint states that Young Thug “made YSL a household name by referencing it in his songs and on social media.”

Prosecutors portrayed him as a gang leader known as King Slime, someone who calls the shots and directs others to engage in criminal activities.

Prosecutors had been negotiating with Young Thug’s attorneys to try to reach a deal that would end his participation in the long-running trial. But those efforts stalled when the two sides disagreed on terms.

Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Young Thug attorney Brian Steel declined to discuss the negotiations. But he said prosecutors were pushing for “excessive” circumstances: “They would let him out, but they would be so tight around him that it would be unconscionable.”

Instead, the rapper moved forward with a potentially risky, non-negotiated or “blind” plea deal, meaning he entered pleas without making a deal with prosecutors.

He pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges and two weapons charges. He also entered a plea to another gang charge and a racketeering conspiracy charge, meaning he decided not to contest those charges but could be punished as if he had pleaded guilty.

No, as long as he adheres to the terms of his sentence.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker gave him a total sentence of 40 years. The first five years were to be served in prison, but that was commuted to prison time. He will then be on probation for fifteen years. Finally, a “backloaded” 20-year prison sentence will be commuted to time served if he meets all terms of his probation. If he does not successfully complete his probation, he will have to serve 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors wanted Young Thug sentenced to 45 years, with 25 years in prison and the remaining 20 years suspended. The charges against him carry a maximum prison sentence of 120 years, prosecutor Adriane Love said.

Steel had asked the judge for a 45-year prison sentence, with a five-year sentence commuted to prison and 40 years’ probation.

He apologized to his family, his managers, courtroom deputies and “really anyone who had anything to do with this situation” for the time his case took.

“I hope you will let me go home today and trust me to do the right thing,” he told the judge, promising her he would never find himself in this type of situation again.

“I’ve learned from my mistakes, you know. I came from nothing and I created something and I didn’t take full advantage of it. I’m sorry,’ he said.

He told her he understands his impact on people and said he has also tried to give back, putting millions of dollars back into his community.

He must stay away from the metro Atlanta area as defined by the census for the first 10 years of his probation, except for weddings, funerals, graduations or serious illness of an immediate family member. He can arrive 24 hours before the event and must depart within 48 hours afterwards.

But he must also return to the Atlanta area four times each year of his probation to give a presentation against gangs and gun violence at an elementary, middle or high school, or at an organization like the Boys. & Girls club. These visits may count toward the 100 hours of community service he must complete during each year of his probation.

He must also not knowingly have contact with any member of a criminal street gang. The judge said that includes other people named in the indictment, with the exception of his brother and rapper Gunna, with whom he has contractual obligations.

He may not participate in criminal street gang activity or promote any gang, including through hand signals.

He is also prohibited from contacting the victims in the case or their families, is prohibited from possessing a weapon, is prohibited from using drugs other than those prescribed to him, must submit to random drug testing, and must have searches of himself and his property and allow electronics. .

The process took a long time and was marred by problems.

Before the trial began, prosecutors and defense attorneys debated whether the defendants’ rap lyrics should be allowed into evidence. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, the original judge, allowed prosecutors to introduce certain lyrics as long as they could prove the lyrics were related to crimes Young Thug and others were accused of. Defense lawyers had asked the judge to exclude them, arguing that the texts are constitutionally protected expressions and would be unjustifiably harmful.

Just weeks after prosecutors began presenting evidence, the trial had to be paused because one of Young Thug’s co-defendants was stabbed in jail.

In June, Steel told Glanville in open court that he had learned of a meeting in the judge’s chambers between the judge, prosecutors and a prosecution witness. When Steel refused to tell him how he learned of the meeting, Glanville found him in contempt and ordered him to spend ten weekends in prison. That sentence was stayed while Steel appealed, and the Georgia Supreme Court recently overturned the contempt ruling.

Glanville was removed from the case the following month after attorneys requested his recusal, citing the judge’s meeting with prosecutors and a state witness. That caused another delay until Whitaker was appointed to take over.

Whitaker became frustrated in September with Love, the lead prosecutor, who said the case was presented in a “haphazard” manner and that she couldn’t tell “whether this all has a purpose or whether this is just really bad lawyering.”

Three co-suspects had already pleaded guilty this week after reaching agreements with prosecutors. So there are only two other co-defendants on trial.

Nine people charged in the indictment, including Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Twelve others will be tried separately. Prosecutors dropped charges against one suspect after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.