Closing arguments took place on Tuesday in the murder-for-hire trial of Chicago rapper Lil Durk, real name Durk Banks, in Los Angeles federal court, with prosecutors and defence lawyers presenting sharply contrasting accounts of his alleged role in a 2022 shooting. Prosecutors argued Banks orchestrated the attack out of revenge for the 2020 killing of his friend King Von, using his money and influence to target rival rapper Quando Rondo, while his defence team dismissed the case as riddled with reasonable doubt, built on unreliable cooperating witnesses seeking to avoid life sentences.

Banks, 33, and two co-defendants face charges of conspiracy, stalking resulting in death, and murder for hire, accused of arranging for associates from his Only The Family collective to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles and open fire on Quando Rondo's vehicle near the Beverly Center in August 2022. Quando Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman, survived, but his cousin Saviay'a Robinson was killed in the attack. Prosecutors presented surveillance footage, texts and a 911 call to support their case, including evidence that Banks paid for the men's flights and hotel, while three cooperating witnesses who pleaded guilty testified to his involvement; the defence countered that these witnesses had strong incentives to implicate Banks to avoid life imprisonment.