Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk acquitted in murder-for-hire trial

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk was acquitted on Friday (September 11) of all charges in a US federal murder-for-hire case over the 2022 killing of a man during a daytime shooting in Los Angeles.

Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, was accused of orchestrating a revenge attack targeting rival rapper Quando Rondo. Prosecutors alleged that Banks ordered and financed the hit in retaliation for the 2020 killing of his close friend and fellow rapper King Von in Atlanta.

The alleged attackers instead killed Rondo’s 24-year-old cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, during a barrage of gunfire at a Los Angeles gas station near the Beverly Center in August 2022.

Two co-defendants, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey, were acquitted of murder-for-hire-related charges but convicted of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking with a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death. Banks was cleared of all charges in the trial.

However, Banks remains in custody and faces a separate trial scheduled for October 5 on racketeering and weapons charges related to murder, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Banks, 33, was arrested at a Florida airport in October 2024 after being charged in the case. He pleaded not guilty and maintained he had no role in the plot. His lawyers argued that a former personal assistant had arranged the attack in an effort to impress him.

The acquittal prompted celebrations among Banks’ supporters outside the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.