Judge in Fani Willis Case Hit With 'Nuclear' Recusal Filing

Judge Ural Glanville is sworn in as the Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Fulton County on December 1, 2022. Defense attorney Brian Steel filed a motion to recuse Glanville from the YSL trial on Monday.

The judge presiding over Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sweeping RICO case against alleged Young Slime Life gang members was hit with a "nuclear" motion to recuse himself from the high-profile trial.

Attorney Brian Steel, who is representing Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug in the case, filed a 27-page motion on Monday that accused Judge Ural Glanville of favoring prosecutors and "attempting to sabotage the defense."

Young Thug is standing trial with five others for gang-related charges.

"Judge Glanville must cease from any further contact with this case and another judge shall be assigned to hear this Motion to disqualify/recuse Judge Glanville," the filing read. "Judge Glanville cannot, in any way, oppose this Motion."

The motion stunned members of the legal community, like Georgia-based criminal defense lawyer Andrew Fleischman, who said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, "This would be an angry filing from anyone. From Steel, it's nuclear."

Anthony Michael Kreis, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University, also responded, "This is a motion you file from which there is no return. It's blistering."

"This is not only a 'noisy' motion, but a 'bullhorn in your face' motion," legal analyst Tracy Pearson wrote.

The trial in Fulton County has descended into chaos over the last couple of weeks.

Earlier this month, Steel filed a motion for mistrial based on an ex parte meeting that Glanville held with prosecutors, state witness Kenneth Copeland and Copeland's counsel. The judge became angered that Steel had knowledge of what was said in his chambers, and when Steel would not reveal his source, Glanville held him in criminal contempt and sentenced him to 20 days behind bars.

Steel has appealed the ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court, which stayed the jail sentence last week.

"This court has falsely and wrongly accused Affiant, specifically Brian Steel, of being unprofessional and unprepared in front of the jury. Neither claim was close to the truth or was accurate," Steel said in a sworn affidavit Monday. "The prosecutor sat silent as Affiant was wrongly and falsely accused of improper conduct. This court has violated every neutrality, impartiality that it was sworn to undertake."

Defense attorneys have argued that the judge violated court rules by not making the other parties in the case aware of the private meeting and refusing to offer a transcript of what was said. They claim that during the meeting, Glanville and the district attorney's office tried to harass and intimidate the witness into testifying.

"This court was a participant and was present during these admonitions/threats to Mr. Copeland. This is witness intimidation, coersion and the court has become a member of the prosecution team in assisting the prosecution to induce a material witness to testify," the sworn affidavit reads.

Steel's motion is the latest filing asking Glanville to recuse himself. Doug Weinstein, another defense attorney in the trial, sought the judge's recusal last week, but Glanville told him that he could not "file a motion to recuse for a ruling that a trial judge makes."

When Weinstein asked the judge, "Aren't you interested in removing the cloud that's hanging over the case right now?" Glanville warned the attorney, "I'd be very careful if I were you."

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