Rapper Lil Durk suffered a significant setback in his federal murder-for-hire case Wednesday when a judge denied his request to remove the prosecutors handling his case.
According to AllHipHop, Durk challenged the appointment of Bilal A. Essayli, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney supervising the prosecution, arguing that Essayli's appointment was improper and warranted dismissal of the indictment. The judge turned down Durk's motion, saying that three other federal cases with similar facts had already made the same decision. The judge also said that Durk had not given the required statement explaining why his case should be treated differently.
The court's order confirmed that Essayli may continue overseeing the prosecution without restrictions and that the indictment against Durk will move forward.
Durk faces charges connected to an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting Savannah rapper Quando Rondo. Prosecutors say the plot stemmed from a 2020 confrontation that resulted in the deaths of King Von and Lul Pab, intensifying a feud between their respective camps.
In addition to this ruling, Durk has accused the government of withholding four threatening voicemails directed at Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue. The messages referenced Durk and co-defendant DeAndre Wilson by name and included violent threats and gunfire sounds. Prosecutors argued the calls were from unknown outsiders, did not require disclosure, and did not justify disqualifying the judge.
The court has maintained the government's leadership remains intact, allowing the prosecution to proceed.
Lil Durk Linked to 2022 Chicago Killing in New Jailhouse Claims
Last week, local media St. Louis American reported that new jailhouse allegations have once again put rapper Lil Durk at the center of renewed scrutiny in a federal murder-for-hire investigation tied to a 2022 Chicago killing, authorities and court records show.
Prosecutors say statements from a co-defendant and a jailhouse informant suggest a bounty was offered for the 2022 slaying of Stephon Mack outside the Youth Peace Center on Chicago's Far South Side.
The informant's account echoes earlier assertions by defendants and is expected to be part of evidence in an upcoming trial in the case, according to prosecutors.
Federal authorities have already charged Lil Durk — born Durk Derrick Banks — in a separate murder-for-hire indictment that alleges involvement in a different homicide.
He is being held without bond on that charge. The new statements concern the killing of Mack, which investigators say stemmed from longstanding street tensions following the 2021 fatal shooting of Durk's brother, D-Thang, outside a Harvey nightclub.
Preston Powell, who goes by Marley, and Anthony Montgomery-Wilson were implicated in the Mack case after the 2022 shooting.
Powell is scheduled to be tried first, and prosecutors have indicated they will seek to introduce Montgomery-Wilson's statements, made while in custody, that a bounty had been posted for Mack's death by an individual identified in records as "Individual A."
The person has been widely reported to be Lil Durk, though court filings do not publicly name him as the source of the alleged bounty in that case.
Court documents and media reports reflect a complex, multi-defendant investigation by federal and local authorities into violence tied to Chicago street disputes. Prosecutors allege the killings were part of retaliatory conduct motivated by prior shootings.
Defense attorneys have pushed back on some witness accounts in related matters, and a decision on the admissibility of certain statements is expected to be litigated before trial.
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