Lil Durk scored a pretrial victory when a judge granted the rapper’s motion to have new gang-related charges thrown out of his murder-for-hire case.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald granted the Chicago rapper’s motion to cut prosecutors’ newly added racketeering charges related to Chicago’s OTF (Only The Family) gang violence, according to documents obtained by XXL on Tuesday (July 14). He also ordered Durchio’s trial to begin on August 20 as planned.
In a statement to XXL, Lil Durk’s attorney Drew Findling was pleased with the judge’s decision and insisted his client is innocent in the case.
“We are very pleased with the court’s order. For 21 months we have been steadfast in our commitment to Mr. Banks and his innocence and look forward to the trial on August 20, 2026,” he said.
Judge Fitzgerald made the decision after a preliminary hearing today in Los Angeles. A judge warned prosecutors to add racketeering charges in June while requesting another postponement of the rapper’s already postponed murder-for-hire trial, according to a Billboard report published Tuesday.
“You thought you would have a better chance of winning if the Chicago count were tried together with the L.A. murders. That’s obvious,” the judge reportedly told lead prosecutor Ian Yanniello during the hearing. “You treated it as a feature. I treated it as a mistake.”
In the end, Judge Fitzgerald ruled that it would be “much simpler” to have just one trial for the Los Angeles murders, followed by a possible second trial for the Violent Criminal Racketeering (VICAR) gang charges that prosecutors added in June.
Lil Durk, born Durk Devontay Banks, has been in prison since October 2024, when he was arrested and charged with murder-for-hire in connection with the 2022 killing of Quando Rondo’s cousin, Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson.
