Lil Durk scored a major courtroom victory ‘W’ when a federal judge agreed to split his newest racketeering charges from the murder-for-hire case headed to trial on August 20.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald issued the ruling July 14 after considering arguments from the rapper’s attorneys and federal prosecutors. Durk, born Durk Banks, will first stand trial on four counts linked to a 2022 Los Angeles shooting that left rapper Saviay’a “Lul Pabb” Robinson dead.
The two charges prosecutors added in June, one of which alleges “murder in aid of racketeering,” will be decided by another jury at a later date.
The government opposed the split, arguing that the counts involved the same alleged organization and that requiring witnesses to testify twice could create additional risks.
Fitzgerald decided that keeping the August case easier for jurors to follow outweighed those concerns, and he also rejected prosecutors’ claim that separating the charges would weaken their case, writing that evidence deemed admissible and “not unfairly prejudicial” can still be introduced.
Durk will not be standing trial alone. Fitzgerald denied requests from co-defendants Deandre “OTF DeDe” Wilson and David “Browneyez” Lindsey to have their cases separated from his. The three men are scheduled to appear together in court five days a week once the trial begins.
Prosecutors allege Quando Rondo was the intended target of the deadly shooting and claim it was carried out in retaliation for the 2020 killing of OTF rapper King Von.
Durk has remained behind bars since October 2024. He has not yet entered a plea to the newer racketeering counts, and the second trial remains unscheduled.
