Judge rejects Lil Durk’s motion to throw out murder-for-hire charges
Lil Durk attempted to dismiss his murder-for-hire case by claiming the indictment was too vague to prepare a proper defence. However, US District Judge Michael Fitzgerald has shut down his motion.
The Chicago rapper is accused of conspiring with others to murder Quando Rondo, resulting in the death of his cousin, Lul Pab.
Speaking on the charges, his lawyer, Christy O’Connor, said, “When you have an indictment this vague, you can’t fill in the blanks with material the grand jury didn’t see. The grand jury has been usurped.”
According to Courthouse News, O’Connor says the government provided them with purported evidence like music videos, but they don’t know if it was shown as proof of Durk offering a bounty or whether it’s evidence planned to be introduced at trial.
She also claimed that a key government witness told investigators that he hadn’t been offered a bounty at all.
Denying their request, the judge stated that the defence wasn’t entitled to a summary of the prosecution’s opening statement and that they would have the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses to show the jury if they had changed their story.
Durk’s other lawyer, Drew Findling, said, “They looked at this a serious threat. There is no rationale for letting us walk in front of [Magistrate] Judge [Patricia] Donahue and make fools of ourselves — we truly had a ridiculous hearing.”
The 33-year-old has been charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death.
He’s also facing one count of using, carrying, and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.
Durk faces a possible life sentence if found guilty in his upcoming trial, which is set to begin on January 20th.