Overview
- Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ordered on Tuesday that two racketeering counts tied to a January 2022 Chicago killing and a 2019 Atlanta shooting be severed from the August 20 Los Angeles trial.
- The August trial will proceed on the original murder-for-hire and related counts that allege Durk organized the plot that led to the August 2022 killing of Saviay’a Robinson.
- Defense lawyers had argued the June third superseding indictment and the large body of late discovery left them unable to prepare, and the judge criticized prosecutors for waiting to add the Chicago matter.
- The government must bring the severed racketeering and VICAR counts in a separate, to-be-scheduled trial, and the court told the parties to confer on a new date.
- Durk remains detained without bail since his October 2024 arrest, the split case could prompt a double‑jeopardy fight if outcomes diverge, and the severance narrows next month’s trial focus while leaving major penalties and separate litigation still possible.