 |
| Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, is shown in an Oct. 24, 2024, booking photo. A federal jury in Los Angeles acquitted the Grammy-winning rapper Friday on all five counts in his murder-for-hire trial. (Broward Sheriff's Office) |
Lil Durk was acquitted Friday on all five counts in the federal murder-for-hire trial that threatened to send the Grammy-winning Chicago rapper to prison for life.
A jury in Los Angeles rejected prosecutors' case that Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, helped organize and finance a 2022 plot to kill rapper Quando Rondo in retaliation for the death of King Von.
Rondo survived the attack.
His cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, 24, was killed.
The five not-guilty verdicts cleared Durk of every charge the jury was asked to decide in this trial, including stalking and murder-for-hire allegations stemming from the Aug. 19, 2022, shooting near the Beverly Center.
Durk wiped away tears as the verdicts were read, according to courtroom reporting from the Los Angeles Times.
The decision came after two weeks of testimony and three days of deliberations in a case built largely around whether prosecutors could connect Durk to an attack carried out by other men.
The shooting itself was not the central dispute.
Prosecutors said gunmen tracked Rondo, whose legal name is Tyquian Bowman, through Los Angeles before opening fire near a gas station. Robinson was killed while Rondo, the government's alleged intended target, escaped the gunfire.
The question for jurors was whether prosecutors had proved Durk's criminal responsibility for what happened.
The government argued that the attack grew out of the November 2020 killing of Dayvon Bennett, better known as King Von, after a fight involving Rondo outside an Atlanta nightclub.
Prosecutors alleged Durk sought revenge, put money behind the effort to kill Rondo and used people and resources connected to his Only the Family organization to help make it happen.
Durk was never accused of being one of the gunmen in Los Angeles.
Instead, prosecutors relied on conspiracy and other theories of liability that did not require him to personally pull a trigger. They presented travel records, financial evidence and testimony from three cooperating witnesses who had been inside Durk's circle or involved in the attack.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello told jurors during closing arguments that Durk had his "shooters on speed dial," arguing that the attack would not have happened without his money and influence.
The defense told a very different story.
Durk's lawyers argued that former personal assistant Kavon Grant organized the attack himself and had access to Durk's money and other resources without needing authorization for everything he did.
They also attacked the credibility of Grant and two other cooperating witnesses, arguing that each had powerful reasons to help prosecutors after becoming implicated in the case themselves.
Attorneys Brian Steel and Drew Findling repeatedly argued that the government had witnesses who could describe the plot but lacked reliable proof tying Durk himself to an agreement to carry it out.
Jurors appeared to focus closely on that distinction during deliberations.
On Thursday, the panel asked U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald questions involving intent and conspiracy. Jurors had previously requested easier digital access to the evidence admitted during the trial.
By Friday, they had reached their answer.
Not guilty on all five counts against Durk.
The result was different for the two men tried alongside him.
Deondre Wilson and David Lindsey were convicted of conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking with a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death. They were acquitted on the murder-for-hire charges.
For Durk, however, Friday's verdict does not resolve every federal allegation hanging over him.
Fitzgerald ruled in July that newly added racketeering-related charges would be separated from the murder-for-hire trial and considered in a later proceeding.
Those allegations broadened the government's case beyond the 2022 Los Angeles shooting and included accusations of other violence connected to what prosecutors characterize as a criminal enterprise associated with Durk and OTF.
Durk has denied the allegations. He remained in federal custody Friday pending the separate case. That means the acquittal represents a complete victory for Durk on the five charges decided by Friday's jury, but not the end of his federal legal problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment