A federal judge has denied Lil Durk’s latest request to be released from jail as he awaits trial on murder-for-hire charges, unswayed by the argument of the Chicago drill star’s attorney that his circumstances have dramatically changed following the removal of rap lyrics from his indictment.
In a court order on Thursday (May 8), Magistrate Judge Patricia said Durk (Durk Banks) must remain behind bars after being charged with ordering a 2022 attack on rival rapper Quando Rondo that left another man dead.
Durk was arrested last year on an indictment that cited lyrics from his song “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy,” in which he raps: “Told me they got an addy (go, go)/ Got location (go, go)/ Green light (go, go, go, go, go). Look on the news and see your son/You screamin’, ‘No, no’ (pu–y).”
Los Angeles federal prosecutors originally claimed that these lyrics referenced the Rondo shooting. But a recently updated indictment removed the lyrics, as well as other allegations about a bounty payment, after Durk’s legal team pointed out that “Wonderful Wayne” was written and recorded seven months before the incident.
Durk’s attorney, Drew Findling, subsequently argued that the rapper deserves to be free until his Oct. 14 trial start date because the “watered-down new indictment” leaves just a “weak patchwork of unsupported and non-specific allegations against Mr. Banks.” But Judge Donahue is keeping Durk in jail, at least for now. The Los Angeles Times reports that when issuing her decision in court Thursday, the judge cited a report that Durk has been using other inmates’ jailhouse phone calls, thereby showing a “disrespect for the rules.”
Findling tells Billboard that his team will appeal this latest bail denial to District Judge Michael Fitzgerald, who has the power to reverse the magistrate judge’s ruling. The defense lawyer emphasizes that the new indictment’s only specific allegation against Durk is a single “unexplained, out of context text message” in which the rapper tells another member of his Only the Family (OTF) crew, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.”
“Everything else is just these sweeping generalizations about him,” Findling says.
As to Durk’s jailhouse phone calls, Findling says it’s extremely common for inmates to use each other’s phone minutes, telling Billboard it seems that prosecutors are grasping at straws and “looking for a reason” to keep Durk behind bars.
“We have never heard anything from a jail official one time about Durk Banks doing anything improper,” says Findling. “What we have heard when we talk to them is what a respectful young man he is.”
A spokesperson for the prosecution did not immediately return a request for comment on the bail denial.
Durk is due back in court for another hearing on June 2.
