A Los Angeles federal jury acquitted Chicago rapper Lil Durk on all charges in a murder-for-hire plot targeting rival Quando Rondo, but two co-defendants were convicted, and prosecutors say a second trial awaits.
Durk Banks, the 33-year-old Grammy winner known as Lil Durk, walked away from conspiracy, stalking resulting in death, and murder-for-hire charges after jurors deliberated for three days in a downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse. The verdict, returned on a Friday, ended a case built on the theory that Banks bankrolled a retaliatory hit that left a 24-year-old man dead and his intended target alive. The New York Post reported that co-defendants Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey were not as fortunate, both were found guilty on three separate counts.
Banks is not going home. He remains behind bars pending a separate racketeering trial that was severed from this case, stemming from a 2024 arrest. Federal prosecutors made clear they intend to try him again.
Prosecutors painted Banks as the man behind the money and the motive
The government's case rested on a straightforward revenge theory. In 2020, Banks's close friend, rapper King Von, born Dayvon Bennett, got into a fistfight with Quando Rondo at a hookah lounge. Bennett was fatally shot at an Atlanta nightclub shortly afterward by a member of Rondo's crew. Prosecutors alleged that killing set the entire chain of events in motion.
Two years later, in August 2022, men allegedly funded by Banks flew to Los Angeles to track Rondo and his entourage. Three gunmen opened fire on Rondo's Cadillac Escalade outside a gas station near the Beverly Center shopping mall, pumping roughly 18 rounds into the SUV. Rondo survived. His 24-year-old cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, also known as the rapper Lul Pab, did not.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello framed Banks as the indispensable figure behind the plot during closing arguments. The Associated Press reported that the trial lasted two weeks before deliberations began.
Yanniello told jurors, as reported by the Los Angeles Times:
"(Durk) had his shooters on speed dial. No one is saying he was the one on the ground with a gun in his hand in Los Angeles, but you know this story doesn't happen without him, and it doesn't make sense without his leadership."
He added that Banks "used his money, his power, and his influence to try to kill his biggest opp." The word "opp", slang for opponent or rival, captured the prosecution's framing of the case as a gang feud dressed up as a business operation.
Defense attorneys attacked the witnesses, not just the evidence
Banks's defense attorney, Brian Steel, took a different approach. He argued that federal agents had "targeted Durk" and went after the credibility of the government's key witnesses. Two of them, Kacey "OTF Jam" Hester and Keith Jones, had admitted to participating in the shooting itself. The defense characterized both men as cooperating witnesses angling for lighter sentences, calling them unreliable.
Steel also zeroed in on Kavon Grant, described as both Banks's former personal assistant and his cousin. The defense labeled Grant a "master of deception" who had independent access to Banks's money and could have used it to secure weapons and pursue revenge for Bennett's death on his own, without Banks's knowledge or direction.
That argument apparently landed. The jury cleared Banks on every count. In high-profile criminal cases with complicated evidence, juries often struggle to connect the dots between alleged masterminds and the people who carried out the violence. Prosecutors here faced the added burden of proving Banks specifically ordered and paid for a killing, a standard the jury concluded the government did not meet.
Wilson and Lindsey convicted on stalking counts, but not murder for hire
The split verdict told its own story. Wilson and Lindsey were found guilty of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking using a dangerous weapon, and stalking resulting in death, three federal charges that carry serious prison time. But the jury acquitted both men of murder for hire, the same charge Banks beat.
That distinction matters. The jury accepted that Wilson and Lindsey tracked and attacked Rondo's entourage but was not convinced that the arrangement constituted a paid contract killing. Craig Harbaugh, Wilson's attorney, seized on the result.
"We thank the jury for seeing there was no murder for hire. We are confident the remaining counts will not survive our pending motion for acquittal."
Harbaugh has already filed a motion seeking to overturn Wilson's convictions. The sentencing timeline for Wilson and Lindsey has not been announced. In cases where evidence is contested and expert testimony challenged, post-trial motions can drag proceedings out for months.
Prosecutors vow a second trial on racketeering charges
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli issued a statement that acknowledged the loss on Banks while pivoting to the convictions and what comes next. Breitbart reported that Essayli framed the outcome as partial justice:
"Today, the jury delivered justice to the family of Saviay'a Robinson, finding defendants Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey guilty of stalking resulting in Mr. Robinson's death. While we are disappointed with the jury's decision regarding Durk Banks, a.k.a. 'Lil Durk,' we look forward to presenting our evidence at his second trial."
The racketeering case was severed from the murder-for-hire trial, meaning the government will get a fresh run at Banks with different charges and potentially different evidence. No date for that trial has been set. Banks remains incarcerated in the meantime.
The case drew attention from across the music industry. Kanye West, who goes by Ye, attended the trial and posted on X afterward: "Lil Durk is not guilty on ALL COUNTS." Machine Gun Kelly also appeared at the courthouse during proceedings.
Banks won a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance in 2023 for his song "All My Life" featuring J. Cole. His legal troubles have overshadowed his commercial success since his 2024 arrest. Gun violence tied to interpersonal disputes and rivalries continues to create federal cases that test the limits of conspiracy law.
Robinson's family got half a verdict, and no answers on who ordered the hit
Saviay'a Robinson was 24 years old when roughly 18 rounds tore through the Escalade he was riding in. He was not the target. He was Quando Rondo's cousin, in the wrong vehicle on the wrong night. His family now has convictions against two of the men who stalked and attacked the SUV, but no one has been held accountable for ordering the killing the government says took his life.
Banks beat the charges. Wilson and Lindsey face prison for the stalking counts but were cleared of murder for hire. The shooters who testified, Hester and Jones, cooperated with prosecutors in exchange for potential leniency. Grant, the former assistant and cousin, testified as well. Everyone pointed fingers. The jury sorted through it and decided the government had not proven its central claim: that Durk Banks paid for a man to die.
A 24-year-old is still dead, a Grammy winner is still in a cell awaiting his next trial, and the federal government is loading up for another round. The jury spoke clearly on the murder-for-hire charge, but nobody in this case got a clean win.
