Brian Steel has stood beside Young Thug since the YSL RICO case, and he’s also willing to get arrested for him. On June 10, Thug’s attorney was held in contempt after being confronted about a conversation between the judge, key witness Kenneth Copeland, and prosecutors.
Steel was led out of the courtroom after he refused to tell Judge Ural Glanville how he learned about the meeting held in the judge’s chambers before court started.
Copeland spent most of the weekend in jail after refusing to testify on June 7 despite having an immunity deal. He came back on June 10 with a changed mind, claiming that he would testify but still dodging most of the prosecution’s questions. That’s when Steel said he learned about the private meeting.
“How about the witness, how about Mr. Copeland, who supposedly announced that he’s not testifying and he’ll sit for two years and, supposedly this honorable court, or let me rephrase that, this court, said I can hold you until the end of this trial?” Steel said.
“If that’s true what this is is coercion, witness intimidation, ex parte communications that we have a Constitutional right to be present for,” Steel said.
Judge Glanville threatened Steel with contempt several times but Steel refused to reveal who told him about the meeting.
“I’m going to give you five minutes. If you don’t tell me who it is, I’m going to put you in contempt,” Glanville said.
“I don’t need five minutes,” Steel said in response.
The court went into recess temporarily, and when they came back, Glanville continued to ask Steel how he found out about the meeting.
“Mr. Steel, I’m going to ask you again. I need you to tell me how you got this information. This is so sacrosanct to have a conversation in my chambers parroted to you,” Glanville said.
Once Steel refused again, he was taken into custody, but an hour later, he was brought back into the courtroom and allowed to be present while the court was in session. Glanville said that Steel had until the end of the day to reveal his source, or he’d be placed back in custody.
