Jury clears Lil Durk of all murder conspiracy allegations
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
A federal jury acquitted rapper Lil Durk (Durk Devontay Banks, 33) of all charges in a murder-for-hire trial on Friday, bringing to a close a case that had run for nearly six years. He had been accused of orchestrating a plot to kill fellow rapper Quando Rondo in revenge for the 2020 killing of King Von, an artist on Banks' Only the Family label, though the shooting attributed to the scheme instead killed Quando Rondo's cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, in 2022.
Prosecutors alleged five men were involved and that Banks had offered money and career opportunities to whoever killed Quando Rondo, with a credit card linked to him and his label used to fly four men to Los Angeles to track the rapper down before they opened fire at a petrol station. During the trial, which began in August, witnesses including Kavon Grant, Keith Jones and rapper OTF Jam testified against Banks, but his defence portrayed them as unreliable. Banks' legal troubles are not over, however: he still faces a civil lawsuit over a separate death and a racketeering charge, and remains in custody ahead of a trial due to start on 5 October.
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In short
- Lil Durk acquitted of all charges in murder-for-hire trial
- Case tied to 2022 killing of Quando Rondo's cousin
- He still faces racketeering charges, trial set for 5 October
How this story developed
- 2 months ago The verdict was confirmed to cover every count against him, including conspiracy and stalking resulting in death, with the jury rejecting prosecutors' claim that the killing stemmed from retaliation for King Von's 2020 murder.
- 2 months ago A federal jury in Los Angeles acquitted Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk of all charges in his murder-for-hire trial, ending a nearly six-year case alleging he ordered a hit on rival Quando Rondo that instead killed Rondo's cousin Saviay'a Robinson in 2022, though he still faces a separate racketeering charge and civil suit set for trial on 5 October.
Full account
A federal jury in Los Angeles has acquitted Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, of all charges relating to a 2022 shooting linked to a murder-for-hire plot against fellow rapper Quando Rondo. The panel returned its not-guilty verdicts on Friday after a trial lasting roughly three weeks, clearing Banks of murder-for-hire, conspiracy and stalking resulting in death. Two co-defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey, were convicted of related stalking offences but were acquitted of the murder-for-hire count.
Prosecutors had argued that Banks orchestrated the plot out of revenge for the 2020 death of his close friend and label-mate, the rapper King Von, whom he blamed Quando Rondo (born Tyquian Bowman) for provoking during a confrontation outside an Atlanta hookah lounge. The government alleged Banks used money and career incentives to recruit gunmen, several of whom flew to Los Angeles in 2022 to track Bowman down. When they located him, gunfire broke out; Bowman escaped unharmed, but his cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, was killed. Accounts of exactly where the shooting took place vary between reports, with one describing gunmen firing repeatedly at a car outside a busy shopping centre and another placing the confrontation at a petrol station.
The prosecution's case leaned heavily on testimony from cooperating witnesses, including a former Banks associate and two men who had pleaded guilty to related roles in the plot. The defence dismissed them as self-interested informants seeking reduced sentences, arguing they could not be trusted and had misled investigators. Jurors ultimately sided with the defence, concluding the government had not proven Banks directed the attack, even as it found enough evidence to convict his co-defendants on lesser stalking-related charges.
The verdict brought an emotional scene in court, with Banks reportedly overcome as it was read out and supported by family and legal counsel, while a crowd of fans gathered outside the courthouse to celebrate. His case attracted considerable public attention throughout, drawing well-known figures from the entertainment world to show support during proceedings. However, Banks' legal troubles are not over: he remains in custody ahead of a separate trial, expected in October, on a racketeering-related charge that was split off from the case just concluded.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
Location of the shooting: one account places it at the Beverly Center shopping mall in Los Angeles, while another describes the gunmen finding Bowman at a petrol station — the sources do not agree on this detail.
Lil Durk's age is given as 32 in one report and 33 in others.
Rolling Stone's account emphasises the courtroom's emotional atmosphere (Banks crying, his wife and mother embracing, lawyers steadying him) and includes extended family reaction quotes, detail largely absent from the other reports.
The LA Times account gives more prominence to celebrity attendance (Kanye West, MGK) and specific trial detail such as the number of shots fired (18 rounds), while the third source focuses more on the broader six-year timeline, the indictment's financial evidence (credit card used to purchase flights), and names an additional co-defendant, Asa Houston, not mentioned elsewhere.
Sources differ slightly on the number of people originally charged in connection with the plot (some describe three co-defendants standing trial alongside Banks, while another references five men charged in total).
Explained simply
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles alleged that Chicago rapper Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, arranged for a hitman to kill fellow rapper Quando Rondo. The motive was said to be revenge for the 2020 murder of King Von, an artist signed to Banks' record label, who prosecutors say Quando Rondo was linked to. The gunmen allegedly sent to carry this out instead shot and killed Quando Rondo's cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, at a Los Angeles petrol station in 2022.
Banks denied any involvement, and his lawyers argued that the witnesses called against him, several of whom had their own links to the case, could not be trusted. The nearly six-year investigation and subsequent trial drew wide attention given Banks' prominence in hip-hop and the high-profile nature of the underlying feud.
The case matters beyond the courtroom because it touches on long-running tensions in the rap world following King Von's death, and because Banks still has other legal matters pending, including a separate racketeering charge and a civil lawsuit tied to another killing.