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Kenneth Copeland aka Lil Woody was arrested on contempt of court charges on June 7, 2024. He is one of the witnesses in the Young Thug/ YSL RICO trial. The rapper invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying against Young Thug and circumvent self-incrimination.
Copeland showed agitation after being called to the stand to testify, as reported by 11 Alive. When the attorney representing the state asked Copeland his age, he replied "I'm grown. I'm an adult." When the attorney asked him how old the rapper was in terms of years, he pleaded the fifth (refusal to answer questions).
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This resulted in presiding Jude Ural Glanville directing the arrest of Lil Woody for contempt of court and excusing the jury. According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the judge mentioned that Copeland is ordered to testify on Monday.
"The way that you get out of that contempt is to just testify” — Judge Glanville mentioned to Lil Woody during the trial
Young Thug's arrest took place on May 9, 2022, and the rapper has been in jail for over a year and has been repeatedly denied bail. How Lil Woody came into the picture dates back to October 2021 when Copeland was arrested in Fulton County with a loaded gun in his car.
FOX 5 Atlanta reported that Copeland gave information to the police regarding future and previous crimes after his arrest and added that he would help get a confession from Thug.
Moreover, the video of Copeland's interaction with the police was leaked to the media. New York Times music reporter, Joe Coscarelli, filed a motion for mistrial after the leak. Young Thug's lawyer told Coscarelli that the release of the video harms his client, calling Copeland's statements "just stories".
In the recent hearing on June 7, 2024, Woody was arrested for wilful contempt, given that he was granted immunity by the prosecution in return for his testimony. Moreover, Judge Glanville began the proceeding by asking Copeland whether he was aware of his immunity, to which he agreed.
Ensuring that his immunity and duty towards testifying were important, the judge also stated:
“If you don’t testify, then I as the judge in this case have several remedies. One of those is that I can hold you in contempt and jail you because the way that you get out of that contempt is to just testify.”
After Lil Woody's arrest was directed, Thug's attorney Brian Steel filed for a mistrial claiming that Copeland pleading the Fifth Amendment was already known. However, Judge Glenville pointed out that Copeland refused to answer after agreeing to testify, denying the motion for mistrial.
Moreover, Law&Crime's X network (formerly Twitter) mentioned in a post that Copeland's attorney went back and talked to him after the incident and will have another lawyer appear on his behalf on Monday (June 10, 2024). However, Lil Woody intends to assert the Fifth Amendment again.
According to the Law&Crime Network, some reports suggest Lil Woody implicated Young Thug in a murder plot to protect himself from legal consequences, however, the claims are disputed by Copeland.
In other news, Young Thug is accused by Fulton County of co-founding and leading Young Slime Life, also known as the YSL gang. The charges against Young Thug include violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, participation in criminal street gang activity, and possession of a machine gun amongst other charges.
