Lil Durk’s trial on federal murder-for-hire charges has been postponed again, this time from April to August, despite the rapper’s continued objections to the delays.
The Chicago drill star (real name Durk Banks) was charged in October 2024 with orchestrating a plot to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo, resulting in a 2022 Los Angeles shooting by others that left another man dead. He denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.
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A jury trial for Durk and his three co-defendants has been repeatedly pushed back, first from October to January, then to April – each time over Durk’s objections. Now, in an order Friday, Judge Michael Fitzgerald ordered another continuance, this time until August 20.
Ahead of the new delay, Durk’s co-defendants had asked to be severed from his trial entirely, citing the risk that evidence against the star might hurt their own defenses. But that request was denied on Friday by the judge, who pushed the date back to give them more time to prepare for the combined trial.
In a statement to Billboard, Durk’s attorney Drew Findling said: “We are fully prepared to proceed to trial. The matter was continued by the court over our objection.” A spokesman for prosecutors declined to comment. Attorneys for Durk’s three codefendants – Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Asa Houston and David Brian Lindsey – did not immediately return requests for comment.
Durk faces allegations that he ordered members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to carry out the 2022 attack, which left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed but saw his friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) killed in the crossfire.
In charging documents, prosecutors claimed that Durk’s OTF was not merely a group of Chicago rappers, but a “hybrid organization” that also functioned as a criminal gang to carry out violent acts “at the direction” of Durk. Prosecutors say he ordered the Rondo shooting in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett), a close friend and frequent collaborator of Durk’s.
In a key decision earlier this month, Judge Fitzgerald ruled that prosecutors can introduce lyrics from his songs as evidence – namely his Nardo Wick collaboration “Who Want Smoke??”, which peaked at No. 5 on Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2021, and “Ahhh Ha,” which hit No. 4 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 2022. The judge said the lyrics to those tracks were relevant to whether Durk ordered the hit as payback for Von’s slaying.
The use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases is controversial, with critics arguing that it threatens free speech and injects racial bias into legal proceedings. Several states have banned or limited this practice for local prosecutions. It’s still legal in federal court, though, where Durk is being tried.
