YSL RICO case defense attorney Anastasios Manettas was arrested in court after he allegedly brought pills into the Fulton County courthouse, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Manettas was handcuffed in court on Thursday following a security search of his bag. He was found with a bottle of prescription medication, and during the incident, he allegedly threw his cellphone at a deputy. Manettas is being charged with simple battery on a law enforcement officer, obstruction and disrupting court proceedings, and possession of pills not in their original container.
According to reporter George Chidi, Manettas was trying to throw his phone to another lawyer. Attorney Suri Chadha Jimenez has disputed that Manettas deliberately threw his phone at the deputy, and said it was merely an accident.
When he tried to toss his phone to another attorney so they wouldn't be able to search it, he missed and hit a deputy, so they're also charging him with assaulting an officer.
Manettas represents Miles “Slato” Farley, one of the 28 individuals listed in the indictment for alleged gang activities last year. The arrest of the attorney comes just one day after defendant Rodalius Ryan was led out of the courtroom because he was believed to be in possession of marijuana. When he was escorted out, he caused a disruption to the court proceedings by yelling from his holding cell.
This week, a video circulating online showed YSL attorney Justin Hill call “cap” on Judge Glanville for suggesting he didn’t have a pre-argument. “I was saying that it is not true,” Hill said. “It’s cap, to be honest.” Earlier this month, one of the potential jurors in the case was sentenced to three days in jail for filming with their phone in the courtroom.
The defendants have been accused of being part of the Young Slime Life gang that “terrorized” the city of Atlanta throughout the years. The final decision in the case could take over a year due to the complicated nature of the proceedings and the number of people involved.
