Lil Durk Acquitted in Murder-for-Hire Trial

Rapper Lil Durk has been acquitted of planning to murder Quando Rondo, the Los Angeles Times reports. Durk Devontay Banks, stage name Lil Durk, was arrested in 2024 and faced five federal charges connected to a 2022 fatal shooting. Prosecutors argued Lil Durk conspired with five members of his Only the Family (OTF) collective to kill Tyquian Bowman, alias Quando Rondo. They argued that this conspiracy resulted in the death of Bowman’s cousin on August 19, 2022.

Banks was charged alongside two other OTF associates for the murder. He pleaded not guilty, and argued he had no involvement in the alleged scheme. The defense argued it was Durk’s former assistant, Kavon Grant, who ordered the hit in an attempt to impress his boss. Grant and two other members of Banks’s entourage made plea deals and testified against the rapper during the trial. 

Banks ,who won a Best Melodic Rap Performance Grammy in 2024, was found not guilty of conspiracy, stalking using a dangerous weapon, stalking resulting in death, and two counts involving murder-for-hire. He was facing a life sentence in federal prison.