Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has a message to people who think that the Young Slime Life (YSL) trial was a failure.
DA Willis revealed in a press conference that she believes the trial was a success, even though there haven’t been any murder convictions. “My message to taxpayers is: it was an amazing outcome,” she said, according to 11Alive. “We had 19 convictions, and the community is safer.”
“We made sure that we got the resolutions we wanted,” she continued. “And if people are unhappy with the sentencing, they should elect other judges.”
Willis’ comments on the state of the trial come soon after one of the remaining defendants, Demise McMullen, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated assault. That means that after three years, 28 defendants, and a highly publicized trial, there will be no murder convictions.
The only defendant now that remains is Christian Eppinger, who’s currently facing charges that include attempted murder after allegedly shooting Atlanta Police Officer David Rodgers six times back in February of 2022.
The most highly publicized defendant in the case was Young Thug, who was accused of co-founding and leading YSL. Initially facing eight criminal charges, he was released on probation last October after he pleaded guilty to gun, drug, and gang charges.
On May 28, defendant Damekion Garlington, who was Willis’ last hope to hold one of the four people who were charged with Shymel Drinks’ murder in 2022 accountable, was sentenced to five years in prison after originally facing life in prison if convicted on charges that included murder and attempted murder.
Garlington entered into an Alford Plea in exchange for the prosecutors agreeing to downgrade the murder charge to aggravated assault and drop the attempted murder charge altogether.
Though the district attorney’s office sought for the convicted to get 20-year sentences, a majority of the defendants received only a few years in jail and between 10-15 years of probation.
