Lil Durk is no longer on the hook for his song lyrics in his upcoming murder-for-hire trial, but will not be released from jail, according to Billboard. Durk’s attorney had submitted a new bail request after the indictment was amended to remove Durk’s lyrics as evidence. However, Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue issued a court order today denying the bail request, citing Durk’s alleged use of other inmates’ phone calls as proof of his “disrespect for the rules.”
Durk was arrested last October on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and charged alongside five other men in the shooting death of his rap rival Quando Rondo’s cousin in 2022 — a side effect of their alleged plot to ambush and kill Rondo himself at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles in response to his supposed involvement in the death of Durk’s OTF artist King Von two years before.
Los Angeles federal prosecutors cited the lyrics from Durk’s song “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy” in their initial indictment, claiming the song referred to the ambush. However, after Durk’s defense attorney, Drew Findling, pointed out that the song was written and recorded seven months before the 2022 shooting, the indictment was updated to remove those references. Findling then argued that Durk deserved to be released from LA’s County Jail until his October trial, but despite his insistence that the prosecution’s only evidence connecting Durk to the shooting is a text message reading, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me,” Durk will have to remain incarcerated for now. His next hearing is scheduled for June 2.
