Lil Durk wants a judge to stop prosecutors from turning his upcoming trial into a larger case weeks before jury selection.
The Chicago rapper’s defense team has asked a federal court to separate added racketeering and stalking allegations from the murder-for-hire case set for August 20, or dismiss the indictment.
Durk, born Durk Banks, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors initially built the case around the August 2022 killing of Saviay’a Robinson, known as Lul Pab, outside a Beverly Hills-area gas station.
Authorities allege Durk’s hired hitters traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles to target Quando Rondo, who survived the shooting.
The third superseding indictment alleges a criminal network tied to California, Illinois and Georgia, with claims involving racketeering, murder, stalking, robbery, theft, drug trafficking and witness tampering.
His lawyers, Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg, Brian Steel and Christy O’Connor, say the new material would force them to investigate incidents in multiple states after 21 months of pretrial detention.
“This is not a sign of strength,” Durk’s legal team said after the indictment, according to AllHipHop. “It’s an acknowledgment of weakness.”
They want jurors in August to hear only the original Los Angeles case. If the court refuses, they say the delays raise speedy-trial concerns under the Sixth Amendment.
A hearing is scheduled for July 27.
