Judge Clears More Evidence Ahead of Lil Durk’s Federal Trial

MIIXTAPECHIICK

Judge Clears More Evidence Ahead of Lil Durk’s Federal Trial

Lil Durk‘s federal trial starts Aug. 20, with a final pretrial conference Wednesday resolving several remaining issues while leaving a handful of evidentiary disputes under submission.

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald held the final pretrial conference Aug. 19, denying co-defendant Deandre Wilson‘s request to review the order keeping him in custody pending trial. The court also admitted two additional songs prosecutors plan to use against Banks, “Back Again” and “Still Runnin,” after granting the government’s motion covering both tracks.

The songs add to the music prosecutors have already been cleared to present at trial, including “Pissed Me Off.” Fitzgerald also issued a broader ruling Aug. 18 addressing dozens of other government exhibits, admitting some while excluding or deeming others moot. Among the evidence admitted were a 911 call reporting the Aug. 19, 2022 shooting, portions of crime-scene body camera footage, surveillance footage, messages involving Banks and other alleged co-conspirators, social media material, photographs, videos and a screenshot taken from Banks’ cellphone.

The Aug. 18 order also allows prosecutors to show a TMZ video of Quando Rondo‘s reaction, surveillance footage from Nov. 6, 2020, an unreleased “Redman” music video, a screenshot from Million Dollaz Worth of Game showing Banks with a large amount of cash, and material involving King Von and OTF. Some evidence was excluded, including a video allegedly taken during podcast filming that showed multiple people with firearms, screenshots from Wilson’s “Seen It All” music video and certain messages concerning guns.

Three defense motions covering Rule 404(b) evidence and additional government exhibits were not completely resolved at Wednesday’s conference. Fitzgerald took the remaining issues under submission after ruling on most of the exhibits in his Aug. 18 order, meaning some evidence could still receive a final ruling as the trial gets underway.

A separate ruling issued Aug. 19 addressed statements prosecutors want to introduce as co-conspirator statements. Fitzgerald admitted several exhibits after finding the government had established the requirements under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E), including communications about arranging travel, efforts to obtain contact information and messages concerning the alleged conspiracy. The judge also admitted two of Banks’ jail calls concerning an alleged co-conspirator’s movements and suspected cooperation with authorities.

Three other exhibits were not admitted against David Lindsey at this stage because prosecutors had not sufficiently explained how the statements furthered the alleged conspiracy. Fitzgerald left the door open for the government to establish that foundation later.

Prosecutors also withdrew their request for an anonymous jury. Jurors’ true names will still be kept from the public and disclosed only to counsel, while Banks’ separate request to have those names shared with government agents and his defense team, but not with the defendants themselves, remains under submission.

The court also kept Banks’ potential defense witnesses in the jury questionnaire. Prosecutors had argued that knowing the names would allow them to conduct a more thorough voir dire in a murder case, particularly given the number of potential defense witnesses.

Banks, Wilson, Lindsey and Asa Houston waived arraignment on the Fourth Superseding Indictment at Wednesday’s conference. The court also directed the parties to propose a date for the separate racketeering trial, which was severed from the current case, as previously reported by miixtapechiick.com.

Trial remains scheduled for Aug. 20 at 8:30 a.m. in the Central District of California.

This post Judge Clears More Evidence Ahead of Lil Durk’s Federal Trial was first appeared on MIIXTAPECHIICK and is written by Tahisha Charles