The faces of jurors were briefly exposed during a livestream of Young Thug’s ongoing trial in Georgia, where he faces gang and racketeering charges.
The rapper’s trial kicked off earlier this week, with the jury Wednesday hearing from the first expert witness, Mark Belknap, a detective with the Atlanta Police Department. While recording Wednesday’s trial, the camera in the courtroom appeared to shift its angle and briefly showed the faces of some jurors.
Screenshots of the moment began circulating over social media shortly after the incident.
The judge and attorneys appeared to leave the courtroom, with the stream zooming in on the wall for over an hour. When they returned, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville asked the media to no longer film Belknap, but rather just record audio instead due to “some security issues” and “some inadvertent recording” of some jurors int the front row.
Following this request, the stream, from a pool feed, began only showing other parts of the courtroom and zoomed in on a water bottle in front of Belknap when he was speaking.
The trial comes more than a year after Young Thug, whose born name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, was indicted alongside over two dozen others. The rapper is accused of co-founding a violent criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life (YSL), which prosecutors allege is associated with the national Bloods gang, according to The Associated Press. YSL is reportedly accused of being connected to crimes including killings, shootings and carjackings.
Prosecutors allege the Atlanta-based artist promoted the gang through his music and social media posts. Last week, Glanville ruled prosecutors could use 17 sets of lyrics to make their case under the condition they show the lyrics are related to crimes the rapper is accused of.
The defense has argued that YSL is simply a music label, not a gang, per The AP.
The “inadvertent recording” of jurors is not the first hurdle the trial has faced, having already underwent a series of delays and a denied motion for a mistrial earlier this week, The Independent reported.