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| Rapper Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, is shown in an October 2024 booking photo following his arrest in Broward County, Fla. Banks has pleaded not guilty to federal charges stemming from an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting rapper Quando Rondo in Los Angeles in 2022. (Broward Sheriff’s Office) |
Lil Durk’s federal murder-for-hire trial opened with two sharply different explanations for a 2022 Los Angeles ambush that left one man dead.
Prosecutors told jurors Monday that the Grammy-winning Chicago rapper financed a revenge plot against Quando Rondo after the killing of King Von.
Durk’s defense says the government has the wrong mastermind.
Durk’s defense says the government has the wrong mastermind.
Attorneys for the rapper, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, instead pointed to former personal assistant Kavon Grant, one of three alleged co-conspirators who have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
“This is a case about revenge, stalking and premeditated murder,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel H. Weiner told jurors, according to the *Los Angeles Times*.
Banks, 33, has pleaded not guilty.
The federal case centers on the Aug. 19, 2022, shooting outside a gas station near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors allege Banks wanted Tyquian Bowman, the Georgia rapper known professionally as Quando Rondo, killed in retaliation for the November 2020 death of Dayvon “King Von” Bennett.
Von was fatally shot following a confrontation outside an Atlanta nightclub involving members of Bowman’s entourage.
Nearly two years later, prosecutors say a group associated with Banks traveled from Chicago to Southern California, tracked Bowman and eventually attacked his vehicle.
Von was fatally shot following a confrontation outside an Atlanta nightclub involving members of Bowman’s entourage.
Nearly two years later, prosecutors say a group associated with Banks traveled from Chicago to Southern California, tracked Bowman and eventually attacked his vehicle.
Bowman survived.
His cousin, 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson, was shot and killed.
In his opening statement Monday, Weiner portrayed Banks as the person who supplied both the motive and the resources behind the alleged plot.
“It was defendant Banks’ beef, it was defendant Banks’ money, it was defendant Banks’ hit men,” Weiner told the jury, according to the *Times*.
Banks was not at the scene of the shooting, a point his defense highlighted as it challenged the government’s attempt to connect him to the attack.
Attorney Marissa Goldberg told jurors that Grant — not Banks — arranged the operation.
“It was defendant Banks’ beef, it was defendant Banks’ money, it was defendant Banks’ hit men,” Weiner told the jury, according to the *Times*.
Banks was not at the scene of the shooting, a point his defense highlighted as it challenged the government’s attempt to connect him to the attack.
Attorney Marissa Goldberg told jurors that Grant — not Banks — arranged the operation.
According to the defense, Grant booked hotels, obtained vehicles and purchased ski masks before the shooting. Goldberg argued that Grant later implicated Banks after becoming a cooperating witness, giving prosecutors the celebrity defendant she described as a “big fish.”
“Mr. Banks had nothing to do with it,” Goldberg told jurors.
That dispute could become one of the trial’s defining questions.
Grant has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the government. So have Keith Jones and Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, according to prosecutors.
“Mr. Banks had nothing to do with it,” Goldberg told jurors.
That dispute could become one of the trial’s defining questions.
Grant has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the government. So have Keith Jones and Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, according to prosecutors.
Banks is being tried alongside Deondre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey. Both men also deny the charges against them.
Federal prosecutors contend the group followed Bowman around Los Angeles before gunmen opened fire at the gas station. Robinson was struck several times and died from his injuries.
The defense is attacking not only the government’s cooperating witnesses but also one of the more culturally sensitive elements of the prosecution: Banks’ music.
Goldberg told jurors prosecutors are expected to introduce songs and lyrics while trying to establish Banks’ state of mind and connection to the alleged revenge plot.
Federal prosecutors contend the group followed Bowman around Los Angeles before gunmen opened fire at the gas station. Robinson was struck several times and died from his injuries.
The defense is attacking not only the government’s cooperating witnesses but also one of the more culturally sensitive elements of the prosecution: Banks’ music.
Goldberg told jurors prosecutors are expected to introduce songs and lyrics while trying to establish Banks’ state of mind and connection to the alleged revenge plot.
She characterized the material as artistic expression rather than evidence of a murder agreement.
“This is art, this is performance,” Goldberg said.
Banks’ lawyers also say prosecutors cannot show that he actually paid or promised to pay anyone for Robinson’s killing.
“This is art, this is performance,” Goldberg said.
Banks’ lawyers also say prosecutors cannot show that he actually paid or promised to pay anyone for Robinson’s killing.
“There is no money to follow,” Goldberg told the jury.
The distinction matters because prosecutors are asking jurors to find that Banks was not merely angry about Von’s death or acquainted with people who committed the shooting, but that he knowingly participated in an agreement to have Bowman killed.
The distinction matters because prosecutors are asking jurors to find that Banks was not merely angry about Von’s death or acquainted with people who committed the shooting, but that he knowingly participated in an agreement to have Bowman killed.
The government says financial and logistical evidence, communications and testimony from cooperating defendants will establish that connection.
The defense says those same cooperating witnesses have powerful reasons to shift responsibility toward Banks as they await sentencing.
Banks’ music career adds an unusual backdrop to the proceedings.
Banks’ music career adds an unusual backdrop to the proceedings.
He won his first Grammy in 2024 for “All My Life,” his collaboration with J. Cole, taking home the award for best melodic rap performance. He is also the founder of Only the Family, commonly known as OTF.
The trial does not include every allegation federal prosecutors have made against Banks.
A federal grand jury added separate racketeering-related allegations this summer involving other alleged violence in Chicago and Atlanta. Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ordered those counts tried separately, keeping the current proceeding focused on the Los Angeles case.
A federal grand jury added separate racketeering-related allegations this summer involving other alleged violence in Chicago and Atlanta. Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ordered those counts tried separately, keeping the current proceeding focused on the Los Angeles case.
Those allegations remain unresolved and are not evidence of Banks’ guilt in the trial now before jurors.
Banks has remained in federal custody since his October 2024 arrest in South Florida.
Banks has remained in federal custody since his October 2024 arrest in South Florida.
Monday’s opening statements were only the beginning of what is expected to be a closely watched trial built around competing interpretations of the same relationships, communications and witnesses.
Prosecutors say Banks used his money and influence to turn grief over King Von’s death into a murder plot.
His lawyers say the people who actually organized the attack are now trying to save themselves by putting Lil Durk at the center of it.
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