On October 24, Lil Durk was arrested by the U.S. Marshals in Florida for a federal charge of murder-for-hire. The arrest stems from a federal indictment that names five other members of his rap collective, Only The Family (OTF). They are facing accusations of coordinating a murder-for-hire scheme against Quando Rondo to get revenge for the late King Von, who died in 2020. However, Lil Durk has now filed his response.
Major updates in Lil Durk’s case
On November 14, the rapper pleaded not guilty on all three charges for firearms, conspiracy, and murder-for-hire. The trial is tentatively set for January, but the date could be moved back. If Durk ends up convicted on these charges, he faces a potential life sentence.
Court documents revealed that #BillionDollarLawyer Drew Findling is on Durk’s team (he has previously represented Offset, Gucci Mane, and Cardi B).
New details of what the prosecution has against Durk are also coming out. A superseding indictment released November 8 (which added another felony murder-for-hire count and felony firearms count) stated that Durk allegedly referenced the Quando Rondo shooting in the 2022 song “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy.”
They allege that the song directly references a news clip filmed shortly after the 2022 shooting where viewers can hear Rondo screaming “No, no!” after seeing the deceased Lul Pab.
“Told me they got an addy (go, go), Got location (go, go), Green light (go, go, go, go, go) … Look on the news and see your son, You screamin’, “No, no” (p****),” Durk raps on the track.
An attorney for Durk has yet to comment on the update, but using rap lyrics in criminal cases is nothing new. Even Young Thug’s lyrics were thrown back at him during his lengthy trial.
Kodak Black’s lawyer shares some defense advice
According to an affidavit that’s part of the official criminal complaint against Durk, he had booked two international flights before his arrest. “A one-way flight from Miami to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, connecting through Doha, Qatar, scheduled to depart the evening of October 24; and (ii) a one-way flight from Fort Lauderdale to Switzerland, connecting via New Jersey, also scheduled to depart the evening of October 24.”
While he didn’t end up boarding these flights, the FBI did get notified that the rapper was getting ready to board a private plane from Miami to Italy, and he was arrested an hour before the flight took off.
Fans are creating their theories about why he booked the flights, but Kodak Black’s attorney Bradford Cohen, offered his professional opinion. Cohen isn’t Durk’s lawyer, but his suggested defense is along the same lines as Young Thug’s “Truly Humbled Under God” strategy with his lawyer Brian Steel.
The Chicago rapper is still waiting in federal prison before he appears once again in front of the judge to see if he will be released on bail. Fans, cross y’alls fingers.
