The stabbing that paused Young Thug's trial is latest twist in a case filled with them

• Young Thug's criminal trial is already shaping up to be full of twists.
• Most recently, a co-defendant was stabbed in jail, pausing the trial earlier than expected.

If there's one thing the judge in rapper Young Thug's criminal trial is sure of, it's that there's no such thing as a free lunch. At least not until deliberations.

That's what Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville made clear last week in one of several viral moments in the case in Atlanta, Georgia, which accuses the superstar rapper and five co-defendants of using Thug's Young Slime Life record label as a front for a criminal gang linked to assaults, armed robberies, gun thefts, drug sales, and three murders through a racketeering enterprise.

The trial, already expected to last up to 12 months, adjourned for the holidays early after one of the men prosecutors allege conspired with Young Thug was stabbed in jail Sunday night, upping the ante for the most bizarre twist in a case already brimming with them.

The judge told the jury on Monday only that a "participant" in the trial "had a medical issue come up" and trial wouldn't be in session that day. He told them Tuesday morning, "Unfortunately that medical issue still exists" and recessed them until January 2.

The "medical issue" refers to the multiple stab wounds an inmate inflicted on Thug's co-defendant Shannon Stillwell Sunday night at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.

It was the second time in 18 months that Stillwell has been stabbed while jailed without bail in the same criminal indictment that has kept Thug, legal name Jeffery Lamar Williams, locked up since May 2022.

Stillwell's lawyer, Max Schardt, told Business Insider on Tuesday his client "is recovering and I am allowed to visit him daily."

He said he can't say more because "due to ongoing security concerns in this case, the Court has asked that we refrain from giving any further comment about this incident."

The trial was scheduled to break for the holidays on Friday afternoon, anyway. Meanwhile, jurors have been told to completely avoid social media.

"I know it may seem a lot, but it's that important," Glanville said.

The mandate is expected to be in place through the trial after a juror told the judge she'd found a video of pre-trial proceedings online.

The dust up followed another public airing of the conditions the jury is facing that came in the form of Glanville's answer to a juror's gutsy request for an occasional free lunch.

The man said his request "feels like a long shot," but can we get, like, lunch maybe every two weeks or so?"

Glanville feigned indignation.

"You got a lot of nerve, man. You trying to ask me for lunch?" Glanville said, before explaining Fulton County has "bad credit" and he no longer has money to provide amenities for jurors.

"It's one of those things I wish I could provide you at this point in time, but I'm not in the position to do so. I can tell you that once you become a deliberating jury, I can make some arrangements for some substance," Glanville said.

By that point, the trial was down to 15 jurors — only 12 will deliberate — after Judge Granville dismissed a woman who said she needed to attend a medical appointment.

It took 10 months for Granville and the attorneys to select the jurors because of the unusual scope of the case and the expected length of the trial. The selection process was rife with its own viral moments, including a courtroom drug deal caught on camera and a prospective juror ordered to write a 30-page essay about the importance of jury service after she skipped a selection day.

It didn't take long for some of the jurors themselves to go viral.

On Nov. 29, the third day of trial, Glanville called the attorneys into his chambers after screenshots from the trial live stream surfaced online showing the faces of four jurors.

Sites such as the hip-hop gossip powerhouse No Jumper posted a screenshot as well as a clip of the camera inadvertently panning to them. "Fans on Social Media Are Already Identifying Jury Members in Young Thug's Trial After Cameras Accidentally Revealed Their Faces." Glanville cited the filming and a "security issue" he said was "unrelated" when he asked the cameraman not to continue filming the witness, an Atlanta police detective who'd already testified on camera for several hours.

The next day, prosecutors said they'd realized the photos of the jurors were more widespread than they first thought and asked him to intervene, but the judge said he wasn't "going to weird them out" by telling them a few had been caught on camera.

A few days later, another juror told the judge she was concerned the jury could be seen on a courtroom camera stream after she saw a months-old video from pre-trial proceedings online. She said she could still be fair, and Glanville made sure other jurors who heard her disclosing the video still believed they could be fair, too. But jurors also aren't supposed to be researching, reading, or watching anything about the case, so Glanville responded to the woman finding the video by implementing his blanket ban on all social media use by jurors.

The judge himself controls one of the most sought-after sightings for online trial watchers: his service dog, Jack, a black lab who joins Glanville in court each day but stays behind the bench and out of sight. A Brigadier General in the Army Reserve, the judge told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Jack helps with his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Glanville's battlefield experience led to a viral moment early in trial when Thug's lawyer Brian Steel was cross-examining a police officer about a stolen gun he found during a 2013 traffic stop in which Thug was arrested.

"Please point the muzzle always down, no matter if it's unloaded, OK? You make everyone nervous, including Mr. Kerns who you pointed it at," Glanville said referring to his staff attorney, Wesley Kerns.

The judge has indicated proper firearm handling could be a trial theme. When co-defendant Marquavius Huey's lawyer Careton Matthews Sr., asked last week if he could display a firearm that had been entered as evidence, the judge replied, "You're welcome to handle said firearm. As long as you handle it correctly."