Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Trial Delayed to January

The start date of Lil Durk‘s trial has officially been pushed to January 2026.

As Complex previously reported, the trial, where the Chicago rapper has been charged with conspiracy and intention to commit murder-for-hire, was likely to be postponed in 2026 due to its “unusual and complex” nature. While the other defendants in the case were in favor of the pushback, Durk disagreed with the attempt and wanted the trial to happen in October.

In new documents filed in federal court on Wednesday (Sept. 17), the judge in the case has signed off on the change, pushing the trial start date back to January 20, 2026, with a pre-trial conference date of January 7. The stipulation again deems the case “complex” due to the volume of evidence and the number of defendants, causing it to be “unreasonable to expect preparation for pre-trial proceedings or for the trial itself within the time limits.”

The delay applies not only to the rapper’s codefendants, but also to Durk himself, despite his objections.

The case has seen a number of controversies this year, from claims that Durk threatened witnesses to the rapper accusing an FBI informant of being “unreliable.”

Lil Durk was charged with murder-for-hire and possession of a firearm last October after it was alleged that he ordered Only The Family members to carry out a hit on Savannah rapper Quando Rondo in 2022 in Los Angeles. During the incident, Rondo’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, was killed after being in a car with the rapper. The shooting was alleged to have been in retaliation for the 2020 murder of Durk’s late friend and Only the Family signee King Von, although his accused shooter was Timothy “Lul Tim” Leeks. Felony murder charges against Leeks were dropped in 2023.