Young Thug's Lawyer Brian Steel's Final Salvo For Jury To See 'Dropping Jewels' Video

Young Thug's lawyer Brian Steel erupted at Judge Ural Glanville this week over the admissibility of a video of Thugger performing his 2021 song "Droppin Jewels." Steel wants to show the jury the video from Thug's NPR Tiny Desk Concert performance to counter questions Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love asked confessed YSL gang leader Trontavious "Tick" Stephens about the lyrics. (You can watch her do so here:    • Rap Lyrics on Trial: Does ‘Droppin Jewels’...  ) Judge Glanville already told him no and Steel got the angriest I've seen him (you can watch here:    • 'Handcuffing The Constitution'? Lawyer Arg...  ) , but he told the judge today he was moving to re-call Tick as a witness so he can ask him about the video. That prompted Judge Glanville to hear more argument about the issue. (He started with Love. First, he called the song "Dropping Diamonds." Watch here:    • YSL Prosecutor Doesn't Want Jury to See Yo...  ) \ 00:28 "This is not a confession. This is not a statement to a detective. These are protected speech unless deemed otherwise." "She did not ask all the lyrics of the song and my understanding is she transposed some of the lyrics." Steel admits he hasn't yet listened to the song to confirm, but other attorneys are doing so now. 02:55 "Which version are you talking about?" Judge Glanville asks. "You can't tell me with specificity whether that is truly the released song or if it's some other release for YouTube." 03:12 "I tried bringing the pure evidence. I have Mr. Williams live on a recording singing that song. It can't get more pure than that," Steel says. 04:21 "She stressed certain words." "What does that have to do with anything?" 04:53 Steel goes through lyrics Love missed 06:00 Droppin Jewels means "giving wisdom." 07:10 "You can certainly add or introduce those particular statements" but playing the video wouldn't be proper, Glanville says. 07:55 "All of us have different pitches ... to our voices," the judge says. 08:45 Steel gives example of prosecutor's unfair voice inflection mattering in another trial 10:30 Steel can use the song lyrics but not the audio and video. 11:04 "Had Ms. Love played the song, I would let you play the song," Granville tells Steel. Judge Glanville is not going to let Steel play the song with Tick, and it has to do with the “rule of completeness” in Georgia criminal law that prohibits attorneys from brining in new information in cross beyond what was presented in direct. Glanville’s ruling does NOT prohibit Steel from every bringing in the song: He can easily put Thug on the stand and ask him about “Droppin Jewels” and any other song of his. But Steel is looking for a way to get Thug’s own words in front of the jury without him having to testify. Love argues that under the rule of completeness, Steel can’t bring the song in on cross because she never brought it up in direct. Steel argues he should be able to under the rule of completeness because Love used different tone and voice inflection when reading the lyrics, but Glanville disagrees. ****************************************************************************** Become a member of Meghann's YouTube channel to show your support: https://www.youtube.com/@MeghannCunif... Subscribe to Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff: https://www.legalaffairsandtrials.com... Support Meghann on Patreon:   / meghanncuniff   Tik Tok:   / meghannmcuniff   Instagram:   / meghanncuniff   Facebook:   / meghanncuniff   Threads: https://www.threads.net/@meghanncuniff CashApp: $MeghannCuniff Venmo: MeghannCuniff