Lil Durk just scored a big legal win. The Chicago-artist who is currently wrapped up in a high-stakes federal murder-for-hire trial, was pushing to get some recently tacked-on racketeering charges tossed. On Tuesday, July 14, he got the ruling he was looking for.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ordered that the racketeering counts, which were only added in early June, will be severed from the main case and handled down the line. The primary trial is still locked in to kick off on August 20.
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The writing was on the wall during Tuesday’s hearing, where the judge’s temperament signaled exactly where he was heading. Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillon reported on X that Judge Fitzgerald was “on fire, very frustrated with prosecution, and seemed to be leaning heavily” toward siding with Durk.
The feds claim Durk masterminded a hit on rival Quando Rondo, which ultimately resulted in the tragic death of Quando’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson. But just last month, the prosecution tried to up the ante by tacking on two racketeering charges, painting Durk as the head of a criminal enterprise.
The core of these new allegations involved two violent incidents: a 2019 shooting in Atlanta and a 2022 killing in Chicago. Per the judge’s order, the latter isn’t making the cut for this upcoming trial. “The Government chose to withdraw evidence of the ‘Chicago incident’ in the Los Angeles trial,” Judge Fitzgerald noted in his ruling.
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Fitzgerald confirmed that the racketeering charges will be dealt with in a separate trial once the initial proceedings wrap up, though a date hasn’t been circled on the calendar yet.
Durk’s legal team had been fighting to get those charges deep-sixed entirely, or at least split off. In their filings, they accused the prosecution of “sandbagging” the defense “by switching its…theories” with the trial date looming. They argued that dumping a mountain of new evidence at the eleventh hour would force a delay, effectively stripping their client of his right to a speedy trial.
The writing was on the wall during Tuesday’s hearing, where the judge’s temperament signaled exactly where he was heading. Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillon reported on X that Judge Fitzgerald was “on fire, very frustrated with prosecution, and seemed to be leaning heavily” toward siding with Durk.
The feds claim Durk masterminded a hit on rival Quando Rondo, which ultimately resulted in the tragic death of Quando’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson. But just last month, the prosecution tried to up the ante by tacking on two racketeering charges, painting Durk as the head of a criminal enterprise.
The core of these new allegations involved two violent incidents: a 2019 shooting in Atlanta and a 2022 killing in Chicago. Per the judge’s order, the latter isn’t making the cut for this upcoming trial. “The Government chose to withdraw evidence of the ‘Chicago incident’ in the Los Angeles trial,” Judge Fitzgerald noted in his ruling.
Fitzgerald confirmed that the racketeering charges will be dealt with in a separate trial once the initial proceedings wrap up, though a date hasn’t been circled on the calendar yet.
Durk’s legal team had been fighting to get those charges deep-sixed entirely, or at least split off. In their filings, they accused the prosecution of “sandbagging” the defense “by switching its…theories” with the trial date looming. They argued that dumping a mountain of new evidence at the eleventh hour would force a delay, effectively stripping their client of his right to a speedy trial.