Lil Durk is still set to go before a Los Angeles jury next month in a federal murder-for-hire case, despite prosecutors’ attempt to delay the trial with new charges and evidence about alleged gang activity in Chicago.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled on Tuesday (July 14) that the rapper (Durk Banks) will go to trial as scheduled on Aug. 20. During a hearing earlier in the day, where Billboard was present, the judge sharply admonished prosecutors for tacking on additional charges last month and then requesting to push back Durk’s already-delayed trial.
In an original indictment from 2024, Durk is charged with putting a bounty on rival rapper Quando Rondo in retaliation for the 2020 killing of his close friend and collaborator King Von. Rondo was shot at a Los Angeles gas station in 2022 and survived, but another man was killed in the crossfire.
In June, prosecutors added new counts under the federal Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity (VICAR) statute, which broadly criminalizes violent gang activity. The updated indictment claimed that in addition to the Los Angeles murder, Durk ordered additional killings and other crimes through his Chicago-based Only the Family (OTF) label crew.
Lead prosecutor Ian Yanniello argued in court on Tuesday that the new VICAR counts are inextricably tied to the existing charges, since the Los Angeles murder was allegedly “done on behalf of a gang.” But Judge Fitzgerald said he views the new charges as a strategy, albeit a “no doubt clever” one, to bolster the case with separate incidents that look bad for Durk.
“You think you will have a better chance to win if the Chicago count is tried with the Los Angeles murder. That’s obvious,” the judge told Yanniello during the hearing. “You treat that as a feature. I treat that as a bug.”
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Judge Fitzgerald said it would be “much simpler” to have one trial focused only on the Los Angeles murder, and then potentially hold a second trial later on the VICAR gang counts. He told Yaniello that if the government felt so strongly about including the Chicago gang-related evidence in the initial trial, they should have pushed for it earlier.
“You chose not to do that,” Judge Fitzgerald said to the prosecutor. “You had over a year… so I don’t want to hear more argument that the third superseding indictment is necessary to prove the Los Angeles murder.”
Durk vehemently maintains he’s innocent of all charges against him. His defense team has argued that the latest indictment is “lipstick on a pig” and “an acknowledgment of weakness.” One of Durk’s lawyers, Drew Findling, told the press after Tuesday’s hearing that Judge Fitzgerald got it right in his comments from the bench.
“It’s one of those days that makes it so rewarding to be a trial attorney,” said Findling. “We so appreciate the thoroughness that took place in that courtroom today.”
