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\n\tLil Durk<\/a>\u2019s trial on federal murder-for-hire charges has been postponed again, this time from April to August, despite the rapper\u2019s continued objections to the delays.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Chicago drill star (real name Durk Banks) was charged in October 2024<\/a> with orchestrating a plot to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo<\/a>, resulting in a 2022 Los Angeles shooting by others that left another man dead. He denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n \n\tA jury trial for Durk and his three co-defendants has been repeatedly pushed back, first from October to January<\/a>, then to April \u2013 each time over Durk\u2019s objections. Now, in an order Friday, Judge Michael Fitzgerald<\/strong> ordered another continuance, this time until August 20.<\/p>\n \n\tAhead of the new delay, Durk\u2019s co-defendants had asked to be severed from his trial entirely, citing the risk that evidence against the star might hurt their own defenses. But that request was denied on Friday by the judge, who pushed the date back to give them more time to prepare for the combined trial.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a statement to Billboard<\/em>, Durk\u2019s attorney Drew Findling<\/strong> said: \u201cWe are fully prepared to proceed to trial. The matter was continued by the court over our objection.\u201d A spokesman for prosecutors declined to comment. Attorneys for Durk\u2019s three codefendants \u2013 Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Asa Houston and David Brian Lindsey \u2013 did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n \n\tDurk faces allegations that he ordered members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to carry out the 2022 attack, which left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed but saw his friend Lul Pab (Saviay\u2019a Robinson) killed in the crossfire.<\/p>\n \n\tIn charging documents, prosecutors claimed that Durk\u2019s OTF was not merely a group of Chicago rappers, but a \u201chybrid organization\u201d that also functioned as a criminal gang to carry out violent acts \u201cat the direction\u201d of Durk. Prosecutors say he ordered the Rondo shooting in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von<\/a> (Dayvon Bennett), a close friend and frequent collaborator of Durk\u2019s.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a key decision earlier this month, Judge Fitzgerald ruled that prosecutors can introduce lyrics<\/a> from his songs as evidence \u2013 namely his Nardo Wick <\/a>collaboration \u201cWho Want Smoke??\u201d, which peaked at No. 5 on Billboard<\/em>\u2018s Hot R&B\/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2021, and \u201cAhhh Ha,\u201d which hit No. 4 on Hot R&B\/Hip-Hop Songs in 2022. The judge said the lyrics to those tracks were relevant to whether Durk ordered the hit as payback for Von\u2019s slaying.<\/p>\n \n\tThe use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases is controversial, with critics arguing that it threatens free speech and injects racial bias into legal proceedings. Several states have banned or limited this practice for local prosecutions. It\u2019s still legal in federal court, though, where Durk is being tried.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n