genre hiphop

Lil Durk says his lawyers have been unfairly “kept in the dark” about death threats that were called in to a judge and the lead prosecutor in his murder-for-hire case.

Attorneys for the Chicago drill star argue in a Thursday (Nov. 13) court filing that they just learned about a seven-month-long FBI investigation into these threats, and that this concealment has severely prejudiced the rapper (Durk Banks) as the clock ticks towards a January trial date. Durk is accused of ordering members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to shoot his rival, Quando Rondo, in 2022.

The case is being prosecuted in Los Angeles federal court and chiefly overseen by U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald, though Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue handled Durk’s failed attempt to be released on bail this spring. According to Thursday’s filing, a Durk supporter left four voicemails for Judge Donahue in February with “explicit death threats” related to the charges against him and other OTF members.

The caller allegedly mimicked the sound of gunfire in his messages and said in one message, “If they get life, I’m going to burn this [expletive] down. I’m talking ’bout the world, and I’m going to burn it, burn it to the ground.”

Durk’s lawyers say that in April, a separate caller phoned the case’s lead prosecutor, Ian Yanniello, with more death threats. This person also allegedly threatened courthouse staff and other prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

According to Thursday’s filing, prosecutors and court staff conferred about these death threats, and the FBI investigated the matter extensively. But the defense lawyers say they weren’t clued in until just last month, which they claim is a huge problem.

“This prolonged nondisclosure — compounded by undisclosed ex parte communications between the prosecution team and the bench about these threats — has irreparably compromised the structural integrity of these proceedings,” reads the filing.

Durk’s lawyers say these death threats could have improperly influenced prosecutors’ decision-making, as well as Judge Donahue’s May ruling that Durk would be a danger to the community if released from jail.

“To state the obvious, Judge Donahue was in no position to consider whether Mr. Banks was too dangerous to be released while having been both personally threatened by someone purporting to act on Mr. Banks’ behalf, and having had her entire workplace physically and violently threatened by the same,” write the rapper’s attorneys.

Durk’s team says the situation has “fatally compromised” his right to a fair trial, which is just two months out. They’re asking that the entire case be dismissed, or at the very least, that the trial be pushed back and reassigned to both a different court and a separate branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A spokesperson for the prosecution declined to comment on the matter. Reps for the Los Angeles federal courthouse did not immediately return a request for comment.

Durk was arrested last year for allegedly putting a bounty on Rondo’s head. A 2022 shooting at a Los Angeles gas station left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed, but Rondo’s friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) was killed in the crossfire.

The Chicago rapper denies ordering the hit and says there’s no real evidence against him. The case’s first indictment included lyrics from Durk’s song “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy,” but those were later removed after defense lawyers noted that the song was written months before the Rondo attack.