Kenneth 'Woody' Copeland returned to the witness stand for tortured testimony at heart of Young Thug's gang and racketeering trial in Atlanta
. Over several combative days of testimony, Copeland said “I don’t recall” hundreds of times and claimed he lied repeatedly to investigators during a series of police station interviews in the aftermath of the January 2015 drive-by shooting murder of Donovan “Nut” Thomas Jr.he told police during one particularly significant sit-down in June 2015 prompted prosecutors to play key portions of that interview for the jury on Friday.
When Copeland was asked about the June 2015 police interview during his testimony on Tuesday, he said he lied to the detectives about Thomas’ murder “to get them off me.” At one point, Copeland suggested on the stand that his recently deceased friend Travante “Threat” Turner may have been involved in Thomas’ death. He also claimed he was “geeked up” back in 2015, then added, “I don’t do drugs today.
In the recording played for jurors Friday, retired Atlanta Police Det. Lakea Gaither was heard urging Copeland to cooperate with the investigation. “We need someone with direct knowledge to take down the main culprits,” Det. Gaither said. “We want the big fish.” At other points in the recording, Gaither and two other detectives lost their patience with Copeland and shouted at him, telling him he was “wasting” their time and about to get locked up.
Prosecutors have claimed Williams had a falling out with Thomas before the murder and also had an interest in asserting YSL’s dominance over Thomas’ rival Bloods faction known as Inglewood Family. Williams isn’t charged with Thomas’ murder in the indictment, but the slaying is listed as an overt act in furtherance of the alleged YSL gang conspiracy.
“I was mad he put that song out,” Copeland told the jury. “He should have never did that. So, I’m going to put the blame on him. Don’t throw me under the bus. I’m gonna throw you under the bus. That was my whole motive.”
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