American rapper Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, has been found not guilty on all five federal charges in a high-profile murder-for-hire case in Los Angeles.
A federal jury reached the verdict on Friday, September 11, after three days of deliberations, clearing the Grammy-winning rapper of charges linked to a 2022 shooting targeting fellow rapper Quando Rondo.
Prosecutors had alleged that Lil Durk financed and helped organise an attack on Rondo as retaliation for the 2020 killing of his close friend, Dayvon “King Von” Bennett, in Atlanta.
The August 2022 attack took place in the Los Angeles area after Rondo and his entourage were followed by a group of men. Prosecutors said gunmen opened fire on Rondo’s vehicle, but Rondo survived while his cousin, 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson, also known as Lul Pab, was killed.
The prosecution argued that Lil Durk used his money and connections to facilitate the attack, while witnesses who had been involved in the shooting testified against him during the trial.
His defence rejected the allegations and challenged the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses. Lawyers argued that Lil Durk’s former assistant, Kavon Grant, had a role in organising the attack independently and that the rapper himself was not responsible for the shooting.
The jury ultimately rejected the prosecution’s case against Lil Durk and acquitted him on all five counts.
His co-defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey, were also acquitted of the murder-for-hire allegations but were convicted on separate stalking-related charges.
Despite the acquittal, Lil Durk will not immediately walk free. He remains in federal custody because he is facing a separate case involving racketeering and weapons-related allegations, with another trial scheduled for October 5, 2026.
The acquittal means Lil Durk has been cleared of the charges decided in the Los Angeles murder-for-hire trial. It does not resolve the separate federal case still pending against him.
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