Jay-Z and J. Cole Urge Judge to Release Lil Durk on Bail After Murder-for-Hire Acquittal
Jay-Z and J. Cole have written to a federal judge urging the release of Chicago rapper Lil Durk on bail, according to Billboard. Durk's legal team filed a new bond package with the federal court in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, asking that he be freed while a separate federal case against him is pending, and the filing included letters of support addressed to the judge overseeing the case. A bond review hearing is set for Nov. 4, when U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald will decide whether Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, can go home.
In his letter, J. Cole, signing as Jermaine Cole, pointed to the pair's Grammy-winning collaboration "All My Life," described Durk as a positive influence who has grown as a person, and backed releasing him under court supervision. Multiple outlets reported that the package also included a letter from businessman Michael Rubin. Andrea Robinson, the mother of 2022 shooting victim Saviay'a Robinson, also wrote to the court saying she had "no objection" to Durk's release. She filed a wrongful-death civil lawsuit against Durk and others in 2025; that civil claim is separate from the bail request and remains in place.
The filing follows a major courtroom win for Durk. On Sept. 11, 2026, a federal jury in Los Angeles acquitted him of all five counts in his murder-for-hire trial. That case stemmed from an Aug. 19, 2022 shooting near the Beverly Center shopping mall, in which prosecutors alleged Durk financed a plot to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo in retaliation for the 2020 killing of his friend King Von. Rondo was unharmed, but his cousin, 24-year-old Saviay'a Robinson, was shot and killed. Jurors were not persuaded that Durk directed the attack. His co-defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey, were cleared of the murder-for-hire charges but convicted of stalking-related counts.
The acquittal did not free Durk. He still faces a separate federal case that the judge previously severed from the murder-for-hire trial, charging him with violent crimes in aid of racketeering and a related firearms offense. Prosecutors allege his collective, Only The Family (OTF), operated as a criminal enterprise. Durk has denied those charges. That trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 30, 2027, and Durk has remained in federal custody since his October 2024 arrest in Florida.
Durk has sought bail repeatedly without success. Earlier proposals were rejected, including a $4.5 million package a judge turned down over concerns about flight risk and danger to witnesses and the community. The conditions attached to the new request were reported to be especially strict. No formal response from prosecutors to the new filing had been publicly reported as of Oct. 27; the judge is expected to rule after the Nov. 4 hearing.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Lil Durk 2022年3月接受专访画面。MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME，CC BY 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Lil Durk during a March 2022 interview. MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
