LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Rapper Lil Durk was cleared Friday by a Los Angeles jury of allegations that he helped arrange a murder-for-hire plot tied to a deadly shooting near the Beverly Center four years ago.
The verdict came after jurors deliberated for three days, ultimately finding the Grammy-winning artist not guilty on every federal count connected to the 2022 ambush shooting.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Lil Durk, whose given name is Durk Banks, was behind a plan to track down and kill Tyquian Bowman, the Atlanta rapper widely known as Quando Rondo.
Federal authorities claimed Banks directed, financed and helped coordinate the alleged attempt on Bowman’s life in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Banks’ close friend and associate, Dayvon “King Von” Bennett.
Prosecutors said the alleged plot instead led to the death of Bowman’s cousin, 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson, who was fatally shot in broad daylight on Aug. 19, 2022.
Banks, 33, had entered not guilty pleas through his legal team. During opening statements, his attorneys insisted he was not involved and pointed instead to his former personal assistant, Kavon Grant, as the person they said arranged the intended killing.
In all, three defendants, including Banks, pleaded not guilty to charges that included conspiracy, stalking with a dangerous weapon, stalking resulting in death and two murder-for-hire-related counts.
Banks’ co-defendants, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey, were convicted of stalking and conspiracy to commit stalking, though they were acquitted on other charges. Banks was acquitted across the board.
Despite Friday’s acquittal, Banks remains in custody as he awaits a separate federal trial next month involving multiple racketeering murder and firearms charges.
Had he been convicted on all counts in the case, Banks could have faced life in federal prison.
Banks, a major name in hip-hop, won a Grammy in 2024 for “All My Life,” his hit collaboration with J. Cole.
Outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, a crowd of Lil Durk supporters erupted in celebration Friday evening after the not-guilty verdict was announced.
