A federal jury acquitted Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk in a murder-for-hire trial that has drawn celebrities, fans and content creators to a downtown Los Angeles courthouse.<\/p>\n
At the end of three days of deliberations, the Chicago rapper, whose given name is Durk Banks, was found not guilty of conspiracy, stalking resulting in death and murder for hire. Prosecutors alleged that Banks dispatched hit men to target rapper Quando Rondo, born Tyquian Bowman, for revenge after the death of a close friend.<\/p>\n
Instead of killing Bowman<\/a>, prosecutors said, the hit men fatally shot Bowman\u2019s cousin Saviay\u2019a Robinson,<\/a> 24, in a botched ambush near the bustling Beverly Center on a summer day in 2022.<\/p>\n David Lindsey, who prosecutors alleged was one of the shooters, and Deandre Wilson were on trial alongside Banks. The two men were convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking using a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death, but were acquitted on the murder-for-hire charges. <\/p>\n Banks, who was in a tan suit and brown tie, appeared nervous ahead of the verdict being read, swaying back and forth and later swiveling in his chair. As the verdict was read on each of the counts, Banks kept his head down. When the clerk read out the second \u201cnot guilty,\u201d Banks began wiping away tears. His wife, India Royale, wrapped her arm around Banks\u2019 mom, who was crying.<\/p>\n Despite the verdict, Banks was not released from custody. He is facing a second trial on a racketeering charge that is set for Oct. 5.<\/p>\n More than 60 people packed into the courtroom. Several more who had been lined up outside were not allowed in. U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald warned the gallery to \u201cmaintain decorum,\u201d stating that the verdicts would be a \u201cmoment of either joy or grief.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRestrain yourselves as the verdicts are read,\u201d he said. The packed gallery mostly maintained decorum, aside from audible gasps and a clap when a \u201cnot guilty\u201d was read for Banks.<\/p>\n Banks had pleaded not guilty to five separate charges for which he was acquitted: conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking using a dangerous weapon, stalking resulting in death, the conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities to commit murder-for hire resulting in death, and the use of interstate commerce facilities to commit murder-for hire resulting in death.<\/p>\n In a statement, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli praised the verdicts against Wilson and Lindsey for delivering \u201cjustice to the family of Saviay\u2019a Robinson.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are disappointed with the jury\u2019s decision regarding Durk Banks, a.k.a. \u2018Lil Durk,\u2019 we look forward to presenting our evidence at his second trial,\u201d Essayli said. <\/p>\n Throughout two weeks of testimony, prosecutors made the case that Banks was \u201cconsumed with revenge\u201d after the fatal shooting of his close friend, Dayvon Bennett, a rising rapper known as King Von. In order to exact that revenge, prosecutors said three shooters unloaded 18 rounds at the black Cadillac Escalade in which Bowman rode with his cousin, Robinson.<\/p>\n \u201c[Banks] had his shooters on speed dial,\u201d Assistant U.S. Atty. Ian Yanniello said in closing arguments Tuesday. \u201cNo 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\u2019t happen without him, and it doesn\u2019t make sense without his leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Banks, Yanniello said, \u201cused his money, his power, and his influence to try to kill his biggest opp.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the trial testimony came from three cooperating witnesses: Two of the admitted shooters, Kacey Hester \u2014 AKA OTF Jam \u2014 and Keith Jones, as well as Banks\u2019 former personal assistant Kavon Grant.<\/p>\n In his closing argument, defense attorney Brian Steel painted Hester, Jones and Grant as unreliable \u201csnitches, cooperators, rats\u201d seeking to secure a lighter sentence by implicating Banks. Steel accused federal agents of having \u201ctargeted Durk\u201d and told jurors Grant had \u201call access to Durk\u2019s resources\u201d and was the one who secured the guns and cars for the L.A. killing.<\/p>\n Drew Findling, also on Banks\u2019 defense team, accused Grant of being a \u201cmaster of deception\u201d who was determined to get revenge for the death of Bennett, his cousin.<\/p>\n \u201c[Grant] has manipulated the people in this case, he has manipulated the FBI, the LAPD, and respectfully, has been manipulating the members of the U.S. attorney\u2019s office,\u201d Findling told jurors in his closing argument. \u201cWell, folks, it is time for you to say … \u2018He will not manipulate us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In a final rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Morse said Banks had long pressured members of his Only The Family hip-hop collective to get revenge for Bennett\u2019s death by murdering Bowman.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now he\u2019s in court blaming his team,\u201d Morse said. \u201cYou can\u2019t blame Amazon for delivering a package that you ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n The shooting that ignited the feud took place two years earlier and 2,000 miles away. Bennett had gotten into a fistfight with Bowman outside an Atlanta hookah lounge and was fatally shot by someone in Bowman\u2019s entourage.<\/p>\n Throughout the trial, swarms of fans and tourists descended on the courthouse, waiting hours to try to secure a seat inside the courtroom. Among the supporters who have turned out are Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and rapper MGK, best known as Machine Gun Kelly. <\/p>\n Dozens gathered outside the courthouse, wearing \u201cFree Durk\u201d shirts and blasting the rapper\u2019s music on a speaker. <\/p>\n After the verdict Friday, Durk\u2019s attorney Findling addressed the crowd: \u201cAnd now we work to … pull the shackles off. The shackles must come off and he must walk free, so he can come home to his beautiful family and to the world that loves him.\u201d<\/p>\n Banks\u2019 dad, Dontay Banks, who was beaming outside of the courthouse after the verdict was read, told reporters \u201cthis is a beautiful moment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n He addressed Robinson\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are truly sorry \u2026 Losing a loved one is very hard, I lost a son, so I know what she going through, I know what she feels. Our hearts go out to her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal jury acquitted Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk in a murder-for-hire trial that has drawn celebrities, fans and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[9261,181848,181850,178314,339,181853,181849,11154,3667,181852,48,52,51,47,50,49,181851,7214,37845,177,178313],"class_list":["post-461173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bank","tag-chicago-rapper","tag-closing-argument-tuesday","tag-dayvon-bennett","tag-death","tag-drew-findling","tag-durk-banks","tag-fan","tag-grant","tag-kacey-hester","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-murder-for-hire-case","tag-prosecutor","tag-revenge","tag-shooter","tag-tyquian-bowman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}