EXCLUSIVE: OTF DeDe Demands New Trial Over Missing Instagram Comments

Deandre Dontrell Wilson wants a new trial over Instagram evidence his lawyer says prosecutors withheld until jurors had already watched the video. Known as OTF DeDe, the Lil Durk co-defendant argues that missing viewer comments could have helped his defense against three stalking charges.

Attorney Craig Harbaugh’s November 11 filing pushes back against prosecutors’ argument that an unsolicited email gave him access to the disputed information. Harbaugh says he didn’t read that message until November 10, long after the September verdict.

“The government had them on August 19, held on to them for seven days, and produced them only after the jury had watched the video,” Harbaugh wrote. “The government cannot outsource its duty to disclose.”

The fight concerns an Instagram Live recording and references to “Murdaman” that DeDe’s defense says needed the viewer comments for context. Harbaugh points to an agent’s interview notes listing Murdaman and DeDe separately before prosecutors played the footage on August 26.

“Regardless, a stranger’s account of a comment is not the recording the government withheld,” Harbaugh wrote. He argues that prosecutors had several opportunities to disclose the material before jurors saw their version.

Harbaugh says prosecutors acknowledged possessing the comments only after the defense objected to the video. According to his filing, prosecutor Michael Morse told the court, “we actually have the comments, but that is not the version.”

“The link reached the defense at 10:05 that night,” Harbaugh wrote. “One email at any of those four points would have ended the matter.”

DeDe became part of the investigation into the August 19, 2022 shooting targeting Quando Rondo near Los Angeles’ Beverly Center.

AllHipHop’s trial coverage detailed how investigators traced distinctive pants to Chicago stores before Chicago officers identified DeDe and supplied his Instagram account.

Account records and flight evidence then helped investigators track DeDe’s California trip alongside other alleged participants before the attack. Prosecutors described the operation as retaliation for King Von’s killing, but Quando Rondo survived while his cousin Lul Pab died.

Lil Durk beat all five charges submitted to jurors in their September 11 verdict. DeDe and Browneyez also beat both murder-for-hire counts, but jurors convicted them of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking using a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death.

DeDe’s lawyer now argues that an unread message doesn’t erase prosecutors’ obligation to provide evidence favorable to the defense. “A crowded inbox does not excuse a Brady violation,” Harbaugh wrote, invoking the rule requiring prosecutors to disclose such material.

Harbaugh asks Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald to order a new trial on all three counts if the judge rejects DeDe’s separate acquittal motion.

Harbaugh’s sworn declaration says the stranger’s email contained no attachment or link and remained marked unread when he located it on November 10.