Text messages shown in court reveal that an investigator with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office hit on a witness while working on a case.
As the YSL (Young Slime Life) RICO trial against rapper Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffrey Williams, and several co-defendants continued on Monday, new details emerged about the conduct of an investigator for Willis' office. While questioning a female witness identified as A. Bennett on the stand, an attorney for Williams asked about messages that the witness received from a county investigator named Hamilton.
Among the text messages was one from Hamilton that read: "Hit me up if you're bored later. We're not gonna talk shop." Asked what it was the investigator wanted to talk to her about, Bennett told attorney Keith Adams that Hamilton wanted to discuss going out on "a date" with her.
"And this is February 7 of 2024, this year, when the investigator for the DA's office is supposed to be talking to you about a case, but in fact, is calling you talking about going on a date. Is that true?" Adams asked the witness.
"Yes," she replied.
Newsweek reached out to Willis' office via email for comment.
Bennett also testified on Monday that Hamilton had referred to her as "mama" on multiple occasions.
In a message that was shown to the court, the investigator had texted the witness, "G[ood] m[orning] Mama. Hope you slept well. Again don't come at 1:30. I have a feeling the defense will keep this same witness from yesterday all day again today. I'll give you an update at 3pm. You will most likely go up tomorrow morning. I'll talk 2 u soon."
Bennett is testifying in the case about a robbery that Williams and two others allegedly committed in 2013. Williams and 27 others were indicted in a sweeping RICO case by Willis in May 2022. The district attorney is accusing Williams of being the kingpin of Young Slime Life, an Atlanta-based street gang affiliated with the notorious national Bloods gang.
The YSL trial has been underway since November and is expected to go well into 2024. Monday marks the 54th day of the trial.
Monday's text messages are the latest details in the sexual harassment allegations being raised by Williams' defense team.
Last month, Bennett told the court that Hamilton sexually harassed her, at one point telling her that he wanted to "take her out when the investigation was over." She said that the investigator had wanted to meet her alone at a restaurant to discuss the case but that she didn't feel comfortable and ultimately brought her 2-year-old son along.
On Monday, Adams asked Bennett: "Did the fact that this employee of the district attorney's office was trying to date you come into your mind as you were thinking about whether you would be coming in and testifying or not?"
"Yes," she responded.
Bennett also testified on Monday that there were other people from Willis' office that made her uncomfortable, including Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love. She said she was continuously harassed by members of the district attorney's office even after telling them she had nothing more to say about the alleged robbery.
Williams' lawyers sought to have Love disqualified from the case last month, arguing that she made herself a witness in the case by "voluntarily and continuously" injecting herself into it. Last week, the judge overseeing the case agreed not to disqualify Love.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
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