Lil Durk’s second federal trial has been pushed to August 30, 2027, extending the rapper’s legal battle nearly a year after his acquittal in the murder-for-hire case involving fellow rapper Quando Rondo.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald approved the delay on September 30, 2026, moving an October 5 trial date after Durk and several co-defendants asked for more time to prepare. Prosecutors did not oppose the request.
Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, remains in federal custody as prosecutors pursue the racketeering-related charges Fitzgerald separated from his first trial.
Fitzgerald found that additional preparation time was justified by the unusual complexity of the remaining case, including the number of defendants, conspiracy allegations, and volume of evidence. The judge also found that forcing the case to trial sooner could deprive defense attorneys of the time needed to prepare effectively.
The ruling allows the delay under the federal Speedy Trial Act, which generally requires criminal cases to move toward trial within set time limits but permits judges to exclude periods of delay when the interests of justice outweigh the interest in a faster proceeding.
The remaining prosecution centers on allegations that Durk and others participated in violence connected to an alleged criminal enterprise. Prosecutors contend that a group associated with Only the Family, the Chicago-based record label Durk founded, operated as a violent organization involved in attacks against rivals.
The allegations include the August 19, 2022, Los Angeles shooting at the center of Durk’s first trial. Prosecutors accused him of putting a bounty on Rondo in retaliation for the 2020 killing of his close friend and collaborator King Von. Rondo survived the attack near the Beverly Center, but his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, known as Lul Pab, was killed.
A federal jury acquitted Durk on September 11, 2026, of murder-for-hire, stalking and conspiracy charges after a closely watched trial in Los Angeles.
The separate racketeering-related allegations were added shortly before that proceeding and initially included conduct tied to the Rondo shooting, a 2019 attempted killing in Atlanta and a 2022 killing in Chicago. Fitzgerald declined to allow prosecutors to fold the new charges into the first trial, finding they had been brought too close to the scheduled start for the defense to prepare adequately.
Durk’s attorneys attacked the new prosecution when it surfaced, calling it a “pathetic pivot” and accusing the government of repackaging allegations into a second case. Lawyers Brian Steel, Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg and Christy O’Connor have maintained that Durk is innocent.
That verdict could still affect pretrial disputes because part of the government’s remaining theory involves the same Los Angeles shooting jurors considered in the first case.
During that trial, prosecutors relied heavily on cooperating witnesses Kacey Hester, Keith Jones and Kavon Grant, who testified about the alleged retaliation plot and Durk’s role in it. The defense attacked their credibility and argued that Grant, Durk’s former personal assistant, arranged the shooting without the rapper’s knowledge.
Co-defendants Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey were convicted of stalking-related offenses but acquitted of the murder-for-hire allegations.
The case is now scheduled to return to trial on August 30, 2027.
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