{"id":461543,"date":"2026-09-12T09:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461543\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T09:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:56:11","slug":"lil-durk-acquitted-in-la-murder-for-hire-plot-that-targeted-rival-rapper-quando-rondo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461543\/","title":{"rendered":"Lil Durk acquitted in LA murder-for-hire plot that targeted rival rapper Quando Rondo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk was found not guilty in a murder-for-hire plot<\/a> that targeted rival rapper Quando Rondo and killed another man in an alleged revenge attack for the death of a close friend.<\/p>\n

Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, was acquitted Friday on charges of conspiracy, stalking resulting in death and murder for hire following three days of deliberation by a federal jury in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The trial was attended by a throng of Durk supporters at the downtown LA federal courthouse, including artists Machine Gun Kelly and Kanye West.<\/p>\n

\u201cLil Durk is not guilty on ALL COUNTS,\u201d Ye wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Rapper Lil Durk was acquitted in a murder-for-hire plot after a shooting that targeted a rival rapper in Los Angeles. Broward County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Chicago native was accused of paying for a group of men to fly out to Los Angeles in August 2022 and follow Rondo and his entourage before three gunmen opened fire on the rapper\u2019s Cadillac Escalade outside a gas station near the Beverly Center shopping mall.<\/p>\n

Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman, survived the shooting, but his 24-year-old cousin Saviay\u2019a Robinson, also known as Lul Pab, was killed.<\/p>\n

Approximately 18 rounds had been dumped into the SUV Rondo<\/a> was in with his cousin.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged that the plot was a revenge attack on Rondo after a member of his crew killed Durk\u2019s close friend and rapper King Von, whose real name is Dayvon Bennett, in a shooting at an Atlanta nightclub in 2020.<\/p>\n

Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman, survived the shooting, but his 24-year-old cousin Saviay\u2019a Robinson, also known as Lul Pab, was killed. @quando_rondo\/Instagram<\/p>\n

The black SUV Rondo and his cousin were sitting in when a group of men opened fire on it at a Los Angeles gas station in August 2022. WJCL News\/YouTube<\/p>\n

The initial deadly shooting was sparked when Bennett and Rondo got into a fistfight at a hookah lounge before the former was fatally shot.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Durk) had his shooters on speed dial,\u201d Assistant US Attorney Ian Yanniello said in his closing arguments, according to the Los Angeles Times.<\/a> \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

\u201c(Durk) used his money, his power, and his influence to try to kill his biggest opp,\u201d Yanniello added.<\/p>\n

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Testimonies from Kacey \u201cOTF Jam\u201d Hester and Keith Jones, two men who admitted to the shooting, were used in the trial alongside Durk\u2019s former personal assistant Kavon Grant, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Durk painted Hester, Jones and Grant as unreliable \u201csnitches, cooperators, rats\u201d who had testified to get lighter sentences.<\/p>\n

He claimed Grant was a \u201cmaster of deception\u201d who had access to Durk\u2019s money to secure the guns and get revenge for Bennett\u2019s death, his cousin.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Federal agents] targeted Durk,\u201d defense attorney Brian Steel said, according the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n

Durk\u2019s two co-defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking using a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death in Robinson\u2019s murder trial.<\/p>\n

The jury had acquitted the two of murder for hire.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the jury delivered justice to the family of Saviay\u2019a Robinson, finding defendants Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey guilty of stalking resulting in Mr. Robinson\u2019s death,\u201d First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said after the verdicts. \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<\/p>\n

Rapper Lil Durk performs onstage during his \u201cThe 7220\u201d tour at Coca-Cola Roxy on April 20, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lil Durk poses for a photo in the press room with the award for best melodic rap performance for \u201cAll My Life\u201d during the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sept. 11, 2026, in Los Angeles. AP Photo\/Richard Shotwell<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s attorney has already requested that the judge acquit him of the convictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank the jury for seeing there was no murder for hire,\u201d Craig Harbaugh told the Associated Press. \u201cWe are confident the remaining counts will not survive our pending motion for acquittal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durk remains behind bars, despite the acquittal, as he awaits a trial for a racketeering charge<\/p>\n

He is best known for his hit 2023 \u201cAll My Life\u201d featuring J. Cole that won the Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk was found not guilty in a murder-for-hire plot that targeted rival rapper Quando Rondo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,48,52,51,47,50,49,8947,181952,39056,5437,3586],"class_list":["post-461543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-murders","tag-plots","tag-rappers","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461543","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=461543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}