Judge Ural Glanville Managing Young Thug RICO Trial on CP Time

Are Glanville’s Military Duties Getting in the Way of Justice

It is well settled in the Black community that Black people operate on a different sense of time. Perhaps it has something to do with our understanding of rhythm. Black people, after all, move and dance in between the beats, while Whites, by and large, roll on the beat. It is often referred to as C. P. T. or Colored People’s Time to explain why Black people tend to arrive late for a gathering.

Stephen B. Oates, in his 1982 book, Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr, says Dr. King once apologized for being late for a banquet by saying, “I forgot what time I was on – EST, CST, or Colored People’s Time,” then added, “It always takes us longer to get where we’re going.”

Be that as it may, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, with a steady beat, is marching to a different drummer regarding the urgency that most Judges give to high-profile criminal cases. Judge Glanville is presiding over the State of Georgia v. Kahlieff Adams, Deamonte Kendrick, Quamarvious Nichols, Shannon Stillwell, and Jeffery Williams RICO trial, with all the “deliberate speed” that the Southern states gave to the Supreme Court’s directive in the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1955.  

You get the picture.

It’s one delay after another.

The trial is recessed each Friday so Glanville can take care of his military obligation in veterans court. On January 4, 2024, the court started later than the time announced the day before, and Judge Glanville called it a day around noon to fulfill his duties in Veteran Court. Next week, the court will be in recess on Monday, January 15, 2024, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday. For the remainder of the week, Glanville will be responsible for ministerial duties of the court, presumably duties related to Glanville’s job as Chief Judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit.

After seventeen days of trial testimony, Judge Glanville has never convened court at the time he enunciated the day before. Usually, Glanville will instruct participants to arrive at the courtroom at 10:00 a.m., and that court will start between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. However, the court does not begin until around 11:30 a.m. One can only assume that Glanville is conducting a hearing in his chamber before coming out to referee the States fight principally with “Young Thug.”

During jury selection, which lasted about six months, Glanville jailed several prospective jurors because they did not appear for jury duty. He required one juror to write an essay on the importance of jury duty and required another juror to appear the first week of the trial as punishment for missing a day of jury duty.

Who disciplines the Chief Judge?

Given the list of witnesses the State intends to call, it will take approximately one year to try this case. Yet, Judge Glanville does not believe that his court should give the trial of this matter as much attention as he thought prospective jurors should provide to it.

Where is Glanville’s sense of urgency?

Where is his sense of respect for the time of the jurors who are without income through the duration of the trial? Not counting the days waiting to be picked for jury duty, the twelve jurors and the five alternates have earned $425.00 since testimony began, which they will not receive until their jury duty has expired.

Where is the respect for the liberty of the defendant’s presumption of innocence until proven guilty?

Five of these men have been in the rat and ant-infected Fulton County Jail since May 2022, a total of 20 months (Young Thug lives in the Cobb County jail).

What if the jury finds all defendants or some of them not guilty?

It could be another year or two before they could walk free at the rate that Judge Glanville allows the State to prosecute this case.

Is this what justice looks like in America, or to quote the lyrics of Young Thug in Childish Gambino’s hit song This is America:

“You just a Black man in this world

You just a bar code, ayy

Driving expensive foreign, ayy

You just a big dog, yeah, I kenneled him in the backyard.

No that probably ain’t no life to a dog

For a big dog.”

Who is there to tell Judge Glanville to knock it off? It is time to get serious about trying this case. It is time to go all day, every day, even on Saturdays.

Who is there to order Judge Glanville to write an essay justifying how justice is served by how he manages this case?

Who will tell Judge Glanville to try this case with all deliberate speed because justice for the guys raised in poverty on Cleveland Avenue demands no less?

Harold Michael Harvey, JD, is the Living Now 2020 Bronze Medal winner for his memoir Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance. He is the author of a book on Negro Leagues Baseball, The Duke of 18th & Vine: Bob Kendrick Pitches Negro Leagues Baseball. He writes feature stories for Black College Nines.Com. Harvey is a member of the Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, HBCU and PRO Sports Media Association, and the Legends Committee for the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. Harvey is an engaging speaker. Contact Harvey at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com.