Young Thug, seen here in Los Angeles in 2021, pleaded guilty to engaging in criminal gang activity more than two years after his arrest and indictment.

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The trial of Atlanta rapper Young Thug ended with a guilty plea. At the end of the trial on Thursday, the 33-year-old artist, whose real name is Jeffrery Williams, changed his plea to “guilty and no contest” in the RICO case on several gang, weapons and drug charges.

After a dramatic series of events in what has become the longest criminal trial in Georgia, Williams is sent home. The government's lawyers asked for a sentence of 45 years – 25 years in prison and 20 years probation – but Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker handed down a sentence that allowed Williams to be released immediately. “The total sentence is 40 years, with the first five years to be served in prison, but commuted to the time you have already served,” she explained during the trial.

Williams has been in custody for more than two years since his first indictment in 2022. He must serve a 15-year suspended sentence, followed by a 20-year prison sentence, which can be served in custody depending on the length of the probation. He is also required not to be in the Atlanta metropolitan area for the first ten years of his probation, unless certain guidelines apply. A community organization several times a year. In the days leading up to Thursday's hearing, three of Williams' co-defendants had pleaded guilty in dealings with prosecutors.