Young Thug's lawyer arrested during rapper's trial and sentenced to prison

US News

By Olivia Terre

The Atlanta defense attorney for Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug was arrested in court Monday and ordered to serve 10 weekends in jail after he angrily confronted the judge over alleged secret meetings with the accusation.

Attorney Brian Steel was held in contempt of court by Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville, who is overseeing the “Trance” rapper's racketeering trial, when he refused to reveal the source who put him aware of the alleged clandestine discussions between the judge, prosecutors and a key witness, 11ALIVE reported.

“I’ll give you five minutes. If you don’t tell me who it is, I’m going to despise you,” Glanville insisted during this heated exchange.

“I don’t need five minutes,” Steel retorted. He then requested a mistrial, which was denied.

Judge Glanville then ordered that the lawyer be escorted from the courtroom and taken into custody.

Steel removed his jacket and tie as he was led away by officials, while the high-profile customer stared ahead with his arms crossed, 11ALIVE video shows.

He was allowed back into the courtroom about an hour later, the outlet said.

Glanville allowed Steel to be present while court was in session, but warned him that he would be taken into custody again if he did not reveal this source by the end of the day.

On Monday evening, Glanville ordered Steel returned to custody and ordered him to serve “20 days including each weekend for the next 10 weekends” in prison.

The judge initially ordered Steel to report to the Rice Street Jail, but granted Steel's request to serve his sentence in the Cobb County Jail, where Young Thug is also being held, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Brian Steel's law firm did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment on the order.

Young Thug – whose legal name is Jeffrey Williams – was arrested in May 2022 based on allegations that he was the leader of a Georgia gang.

His trial began in November 2023 and is already considered the longest proceeding in state history.

The witness who Steel said met secretly with the judge and prosecutor was Kevin Copeland, who spent the past weekend in jail after refusing to testify – despite having an immunity deal that hinged on his cooperation, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

He is expected to return to the witness box on Tuesday, the outlet said.