Lil Durk is determined that the newest batch of federal charges against him shouldn’t be part of his upcoming trial — and he’s fighting to make sure they’re not.
Last Friday (June 26), the rapper’s legal team filed a motion to sever counts in the latest indictment against him — or, alternately, to throw out the newest indictment entirely. Durk is accused by prosecutors of organizing a murder-for-hire plot aimed at his rap rival Quando Rondo that ended in the death of Quando’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson.
The latest version of the charges against Durk — the third since his October 2024 arrest — was filed on June 3. It added racketeering counts and, as a result, brought in previously uncharged conduct, including acts of violence.
Durk’s motion to separate out the new counts, a redacted version of which was made public on Tuesday (June 30), lays out his reasoning. His attorneys argue that if the racketeering counts are not separated out from his impending trial, there is so much new evidence associated with them that his team will be forced to delay the trial, which is set to begin on August 20. That, they say, would violate their client’s right to a speedy trial.
“Because the last-minute addition of the VICAR [Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering] Counts imperils Mr. Banks’ Constitutionally-guaranteed right to a speedy trial, this Court should sever those counts from the Los Angeles Counts, and allow him the prompt trial he has consistently demanded,” the motion reads. “The government’s delay in bringing additional charges and producing evidence in support of those charges is unjustifiable. Any further continuance would be of the government’s sole creation and would warrant dismissal of the Third Superseding Indictment.”
Durk’s legal team says that the government had “access to most (if not all) of the evidence supporting the VICAR counts months ago,” and questions why, if that was the case, the new indictment was filed in early June, meaning that evidence related to it was handed over to the defense as recently as June 23.
“The defense is now in a position where it has to review, digest, investigate, and be prepared to rebut terabytes of new data, just two months out from trial on a charge carrying a life sentence. It is untenable,” the motion reads.
Durk’s team has requested a hearing date of July 27 to argue their motion in front of the case’s judge, Michael W. Fitzgerald.
When the superseding indictment with the new racketeering charges was announced at the beginning of June, Durk’s attorneys issued a statement slamming it.
"This indictment is lipstick on a pig,” lawyers for the Deep Thoughts artist said in a statement shared with Complex on June 4. “For nearly two years now, federal prosecutors have desperately tried to fend off challenges to a very weak case. Now, just two months before trial—a trial that Durk Banks has demanded at every turn—they pull this pathetic pivot, recycling old accusations into a scrambling prosecutor's back-up plan: allege racketeering and as many unrelated false claims as possible.”
Durk’s lawyers continued: “This is not a sign of strength. It's an acknowledgment of weakness. The fact remains: Durk Banks is innocent, no matter how many indictments they want to throw at him.”
Complex has reached out to Durk’s legal team about the new motion, but they had no comment.
