Lil Durk has been found not guilty in his closely watched federal murder for hire trial in Los Angeles.
The Lil Durk verdict came Friday after jurors spent three days deliberating the case against the Grammy-winning rapper, whose legal name is Durk Banks. According to NBC Los Angeles, the jury informed the court that it had reached a decision after beginning deliberations Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors had accused Banks of financing and setting in motion a plan to kill Atlanta rapper Quando Rondo, whose legal name is Tyquian Bowman. Prosecutors argued that the alleged plot was retaliation connected to the 2020 killing of Banks’ close friend and fellow Only The Family artist King Von.
The government’s case centered on an August 2022 shooting near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. NBC Los Angeles reported that Bowman survived the attack, but his cousin, 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson, was killed after gunmen fired at the vehicle they were occupying.
Banks maintained his innocence throughout the case.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Banks’ defense attorneys argued that former personal assistant Kavon Grant was behind the effort to target Bowman. The defense challenged Grant’s credibility after he reached a plea agreement and testified for federal prosecutors.
Banks did not testify during the trial, according to NBC Los Angeles.
The Lil Durk verdict resolves the charges considered by this jury, but it does not necessarily end Banks’ federal legal battle. In July, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ordered separate racketeering related charges to be tried later.
Those charges were severed from the murder for hire trial before proceedings began.
The acquittal marks a significant victory for Banks after nearly two years in federal custody and weeks of testimony in one of hip hop’s most closely followed criminal trials.
