A federal jury in Los Angeles acquitted rapper Lil Durk on Friday of orchestrating a 2022 murder-for-hire plot that targeted rival artist Quando Rondo and resulted in the shooting death of his cousin near the Beverly Center, following three days of deliberations.
The courtroom verdict brought an end to a high-profile federal trial that had captivated the hip-hop community, drawing crowds of supporters wearing Free Durk
merchandise and notable artist appearances from figures such as Ye and mgk who came to court to lend support. The Chicago native, whose legal name is Durk Banks, faced potential life imprisonment if convicted on the federal charges.
The Charges and the Verdict in Los Angeles Federal Court
The Los Angeles federal jury returned its decision on Friday, September 11, inside U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald’s courtroom after three days of deliberations, as AllHipHop reported. Banks was cleared of all federal charges, including murder-for-hire allegations, stalking, and conspiracy.
While Banks walked away acquitted, his co-defendants experienced a split outcome. Deandre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey were convicted of stalking and conspiracy to commit stalking charges, though they were similarly acquitted of murder-for-hire counts. Federal prosecutors originally charged three defendants total with conspiracy, stalking using a dangerous weapon, stalking resulting in death, and two counts involving murder-for-hire.
Prosecutors Alleged a Years-Long Vengeance Plot
The prosecution’s case centered on a theory of retaliation stemming from tragedy. Federal prosecutors argued during the trial that Banks set in motion a plan to stalk, hunt, and kill Tyquian Bowman, an Atlanta rapper known as Quando Rondo. According to the government, the plot served as revenge after an associate of Bowman shot and killed a close friend of Banks, Dayvon “King Von” Bennett, outside an Atlanta nightclub on November 6, 2020.
Authorities stated that the August 19, 2022, ambush shooting near the Beverly Center was the tragic culmination of that grievance. Surveillance recordings shown during the trial captured two vehicles pursuing Quando Rondo’s Escalade before gunfire erupted in broad daylight. Bowman survived the attack, but his 24-year-old cousin, Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson, was killed in the crossfire.
To build their case, prosecutors relied heavily on testimony from three alleged participants who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government: Kacey “OTF JamHester, Keith
FlackaJones, and Kavon
Vonnie” Grant. These cooperators told jurors that Banks planned for a group of shooters to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2022 and offered cash rewards for the attack, although defense attorneys noted no payments were ever completed.
Defense Strategy Attacks Cooperators and Artistic Lyrics
Led by defense attorney Drew Findling, Banks’ legal team mounted an aggressive defense that attacked the credibility of the government’s co-operating witnesses and challenged how investigators interpreted everyday communications and artistic output.
Findling argued that the cooperators, particularly Banks’ former personal assistant Kavon Grant, pinned the blame on a famous artist simply to secure shorter prison sentences for themselves. Defense attorneys played jailhouse recordings where Grant remarked that the trial would be his time to shine
and perform,
pointing to what they characterized as an obvious incentive to fabricate a narrative.
The trial also featured intense legal debate over the use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence. Prosecutors played tracks such as “Who Want Smoke??”, “Ahhh Ha” and “Pissed Me Off”, arguing that Banks telegraphed the murder plot in verses like, Don’t respond to s–t with Von/ I’m like, ‘f–k it, you trippin’, go get your gun’/ They droppin’ locations, I’m gettin’ it done/ F–k tweetin’, we slidin’, the feds are comin’.
The defense countered by calling producer Justin Gibson to testify about how record companies approve, market, and profit from aggressive music without treating every lyric as a literal confession.
“Executives were happy, shareholders were cashing in, IRAs were bursting at the seams for one of the biggest corporations on the planet Earth. And yet those very same songs that are making people in country clubs line their pockets with green is being used against Durk Banks in this courtroom.”
Drew Findling, Defense Attorney, via AllHipHop
Unresolved Racketeering Charges and Potential Next Steps
Friday’s acquittal does not entirely close the legal chapter on Banks’ federal entanglements. Just two months before the trial began, prosecutors tacked on additional racketeering counts accusing him of operating his Only the Family label as a violent gang under the federal Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity statute.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald excluded those new counts from the murder-for-hire trial, criticizing the prosecution for the last-minute addition. Defense attorneys blasted the maneuver as an attempt to bolster a weak case with unrelated evidence. Those remaining racketeering charges could now be scheduled for a separate trial if the government decides to move forward.
For now, fans celebrating outside the downtown Los Angeles courtroom witnessed the immediate vindication of the artist, who won a Grammy in 2024 for his hit song “All My Life” featuring J. Cole, and whose career had reached new heights with his Billboard 200 No. 1 album 7220 shortly before his arrest.
