Shannon Jackson, a defendant in the YSL RICO trial, has launched a class action lawsuit against Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat as well as the Chief Jailor, John Jackson, both in their official capacity only. He accuses them of “deliberate indifference to the known, excessive risks to the health and safety of detainees at Fulton County Jail… which violate the detainees’ rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.”
In the introduction section of the filing, his attorneys write: “This is an action to protect people detained in Fulton County Jail… from serious harm by the cruel and unusual conditions of confinement at Fulton County Jail,” as caught by the ThuggerDaily social media account.
Shannon Jackson Takes Legal Action
At the end of the lengthy YSL RICO trial, the court acquitted Jackson of almost all charges. The jury found him not guilty of the 2015 murder of Donovan Thomas Jr., of participating in criminal street gang activity and conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, as well as a second murder. However, the jury found him guilty of possessing a firearm as a felon.
As for the jury’s ruling, two members spoke about their decision for an interview with Melanie Goolsby on YouTube shortly after the verdict. They said the group was able to agree that YSL is technically a gang, but they didn’t feel they constitute an “enterprise.” “Was it this whole big organized thing, or was it just a bunch of people that were affiliated with each other doing individual stuff to take care of their families or to get revenge?” she said, as caught by Meghann Cuniff. Overall, the group agreed there simply wasn’t enough evidence. “Most of the overt acts were Instagram pictures. A lot of us kind of feel like, I’m not about to put nobody in jail for, like, Instagram pictures,” she added. Check out Jackson’s class action filing above.
About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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