Why was Lil Woody's lawyer suspended? Young Thug's trial delayed again as YSL rapper refuses to testify without representation

In the ongoing YSL trial, Lil Woody's testimony was paused because his lawyer, Jonathan R. Melnick, received a six-month suspension from the Supreme Court of Georgia, as per several reports. The suspension was due to Melnick's misconduct in a separate case, where he allegedly failed to inform a client about a necessary court proceeding in a child support case.

The court had further claimed that Melnick had chosen to not notify the client purposefully. The court wrote,

"Having carefully reviewed the record and the parties’ contentions, we determine that a suspension is appropriate given that Melnick’s misconduct was willful rather than negligent and harmed his client and the fact that he has received three prior disciplinary sanctions for similar conduct."

After this decision was made on Tuesday, August 13, Lil Woody mentioned to Judge Paige Reese Whitaker that he'd also give a testimony given he had an attorney to represent him. According to AllHipHop, the judge had further arranged Mr. Engelberger as Woody's lawyer in the case.

11Alive reported that the jury was dismissed for the day quite early since the trial got adjourned before time. This delay in the YSL RICO trial was described as a "scheduling and procedural hiccup" by Judge Whitaker. The trial had already faced several roadblocks over the time. On Monday, it resumed after about a delay of six weeks with a new judge, as reported by the outlet.

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What were the highlights of Lil Woody's testimony at the YSL RICO trial?

After appearing to testify in the YSL RICO trial on Monday, Kenneth Copeland, aka Lil Woody had stated on the first day that he was unwilling to say anything to help Young Thug or could go against him. In the recent trial dates, Woody was further asked if he had an involvement in the murder of Donovan ‘Nut’ Thomas, which he denied.

As mentioned, while the trial just resumed on Monday, it had already faced a roadblock with the suspension of Lil Woody's lawyer for alleged violations in an unrelated case. The court has further mention:

"We further determine that the mitigating factors do not outweigh the aggravating factors. Thus, based on the particular facts of this case and this Court’s prior precedent in similar cases, we conclude that a six-month suspension is the appropriate sanction for Melnick’s violations of Rules 1.3 and 1.4."

In his court appearance on Monday, Woody had further claimed that he had initially lied about a lot of things back in 2015, only to avoid jail time. For the unversed, Lil Woody along with about 27 others had been charged with racketeering, gang conspiracy, and weapons possession.

The entire YSL RICO trial has faced several hindrances to date. For instance, it took more than 10 months to get done with jury selection in the case. Interruptions continued after a juror was detained for reportedly recording inside the courtroom during the trial. AllHipHop reported that a lawyer was previously jailed after he allegedly carried drugs to the court.

Then in June, Lil Woody's lawyer Brian Steel faced contempt charges after he failed to reveal how he managed to find out about a confidential meeting involving Judge Ural Glanville, the prosecution, and a key witness.

Shortly after this, several complaints from the defendants surfaced against Judge Glanville for holding "improper meetings" with a witness for the prosecution. This led to him getting recued in the case leading to another halt in the trial until a new judge was appointed.