Lil Durk is attempting once more to have his federal murder-for-hire charges thrown out, arguing that he can’t prepare a trial defense when prosecutors have laid out only a vague theory about him ordering a hit on a rival rapper in 2022.
The Chicago drill star (Durk Banks) was arrested last year for allegedly ordering members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to travel to Los Angeles and shoot his rival Quando Rondo. The 2022 shooting at an L.A. gas station left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed, but Rondo’s friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) was killed in the crossfire.
Durk denies that he ordered the hit and is gearing up to fight the charges at a trial in January. But his lawyers say in a Monday (Oct. 6) court filing that they’re not able to adequately prepare a defense without a full picture of what prosecutors are alleging.
“This indictment is impermissibly vague,” writes Durk’s legal team, led by veteran music industry attorney Drew Findling. “It leaves the defense to guess as to the government’s theory of guilt, and it leaves the government free to change that theory as its cooperators’ stories morph over time to meet the demands of a conviction.”
According to Durk’s attorneys, a fair murder-for-hire indictment should specify precisely what bounty was offered and how exactly that offer was communicated. Far from meeting that standard, they say, Durk’s indictment states merely that the rapper used “coded language” to tell OTF crew members that he’d reward Rondo’s killers with money or “lucrative music opportunities.”
“What sum of money is alleged to have been offered as bounty? In cash, via a wire transfer or a written check?” ask Durk’s lawyers. “What were the ‘lucrative music opportunities’ that served as the alleged consideration for the T.B.’s murder? Was it a feature on one of Mr. Banks’ songs that the government claims was offered and/or furnished as consideration for the murder? If so, which song? The defense is entitled to know.”
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Durk’s lawyers say the same is true for the question of whether he directed OTF crew members to fly to L.A. and shoot Rondo. The indictment does not state “when, where, how and to whom” Durk supposedly gave these directions — key information the defense needs to prep for trial, according to Monday’s motion.
Attorneys for Durk say these severe deficiencies require the dismissal of Durk’s charges — or, at the very least, more details from prosecutors that they can use to craft a trial defense. Also on Monday, which is the deadline for pretrial motions in the case, they filed a motion challenging President Donald Trump’s appointee for U.S. Attorney in L.A.
A rep for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the motions.
This is the second time Durk’s lawyers have tried to have his charges thrown out since the rapper’s arrest last October. Their first motion to dismiss focused on the indictment’s inclusion of lyrics from Durk’s song “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy,” which prosecutors claimed contained references to the Rondo shooting.
The problem, argued Durk’s lawyers, was that “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy” was written more than six months before the attack ever took place. Prosecutors subsequently filed a new indictment deleting the lyrics, making the original dismissal motion a moot point.
Durk has meanwhile been awaiting trial from a jail in L.A. He’s tried and failed numerous times to get bail, with a judge finding he’d be a serious flight risk if allowed out.
