UPDATED 9/9, 6:41 p.m. ET: According to reporter Meghann Cuniff, Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald denied the defense’s request to admit additional portions of Durk’s interview with Akademiks into evidence. While he sympathized, he explained, prosecutors’ comments were made during closing arguments, and arguments made during closings are not evidence.
See original story below.
Attorneys for Lil Durk want jurors in the rapper’s murder-for-hire trial to watch more of his 2023 interview with Akademiks before reaching a verdict.
In the middle of deliberations on Wednesday (September 9), defense attorneys argued in a request that prosecutors relied on misleading parts of the interview when they delivered their rebuttal closing argument the day before.
Banks’ team initially sought to admit of the additional portions on August 31, saying material would have changed the impression left by the clips the government played. The court denied that request.
According to the new filing, prosecutors told jurors the interview amounted to something close to a confession, describing the Grammy winner as admitting to the August 2022 murder of Saviay'a “Lul Pab” Robinson. The 24-year-old was slain in Los Angeles, allegedly during a plot orchestrated by Durk to target Georgia rapper Quando Rondo.
The portions the defense wants admitted show Durk saying he never took Tekashi 6ix9ine’s remarks about “Slide for Von” to heart, meaning retaliating for the murder of King Von. Durk also described withdrawing from beefs because of his professional ties and says his approach is to "turn hate into love."
If the judge will not admit the additional material, Durk has asked for a curative instruction reminding jurors that a verdict may rest on the government's failure to put his complete statements before them. The government does not agree to either request.
The filing, signed by Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg, Brian Steel and Christy O'Connor, asks for an immediate hearing and ruling so corrective action can be taken while the jury is still deliberating. Jurors have since issued a note to Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, requesting evidence in digital form.
