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A federal jury in Los Angeles found Durk Banks, known professionally as Lil Durk, not guilty on five counts including conspiracy to commit murder for hire and stalking resulting in death after deliberating for three days, according to reporting by The New York Times. The 33-year-old Grammy winner had faced the possibility of life in prison on accusations that he financed an attack targeting rival rapper Quando Rondo. Banks cried as the verdicts were read while his family looked on from the courtroom gallery, Rolling Stone reported.
Co-defendants Deandre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey were acquitted alongside Banks on the murder-for-hire counts but convicted of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking with a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death, Reuters stated in its coverage of the outcome. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement that the jury delivered justice to the family of victim Saviay’a Robinson by holding Wilson and Lindsey accountable on the stalking charges resulting in Robinson’s death. Essayli added that prosecutors were disappointed with the outcome for Banks but would present evidence at his upcoming second trial.
Prosecutors had alleged that Banks, consumed with revenge after the 2020 killing of his close associate Dayvon Bennett, known as King Von, ordered a hit on Tyquian Bowman, who performs as Quando Rondo, a Pitchfork article on the trial detailed. Bowman had been involved in the Atlanta nightclub altercation that led to Bennett’s death, according to the federal case outlined across multiple outlets including the Los Angeles Times. The botched 2022 ambush near the Beverly Center shopping mall in Los Angeles instead killed Robinson, Bowman’s 24-year-old cousin, when gunmen fired 18 rounds at the vehicle carrying the pair.
The government’s case relied heavily on testimony from cooperating witnesses, including Banks’ former assistant Kavon Grant, Keith Jones and Kacey Hester, all of whom had ties to Banks’ Only the Family collective and struck plea deals, The New York Times reported. Those witnesses claimed Banks offered cash, including up to $1 million in one account, and provided logistical support such as flights, rental cars, cellphones and ski masks to carry out the plot. A 2024 podcast interview clip with DJ Akademiks in which Banks responded to online criticism about failing to retaliate for King Von’s death was also admitted as evidence of his state of mind.
Defense attorneys countered that the cooperating witnesses were unreliable “snitches” seeking reduced sentences and argued that Grant had orchestrated the attack himself in retaliation for his cousin King Von’s death, Variety detailed from the courtroom proceedings. Banks has maintained his innocence since his October 2024 arrest in Florida, according to statements from his legal team carried by NBC Los Angeles. The defense emphasized that no direct evidence linked Banks to ordering the shooting beyond the accounts of the witnesses who had cut deals with prosecutors.
Banks, who won the 2024 Grammy for best melodic rap performance with his single “All My Life,” will remain in federal custody pending an October 5, 2026, trial on separate racketeering and weapons charges related to his Only the Family label, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles confirmed to Reuters. The racketeering indictment accuses him of leading a criminal enterprise involved in robbery, murder and drug trafficking, according to court filings summarized by The Chicago Tribune. Supporters gathered outside the courthouse to celebrate the acquittal as Banks’ legal team expressed gratitude that the jury saw he had no involvement in the murder-for-hire scheme.
