Lil Durk Is Found Not Guilty in His Murder-for-Hire Trial, but Stays in Custody for a Second Case

A federal jury in Los Angeles has found Lil Durk not guilty of plotting to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo. The verdict came on Friday (Sept. 11), around 8 p.m. ET, after three days of deliberation, according to XXL, which cites reporter Meghann Cuniff.

The 33-year-old Chicago rapper, born Durk Banks, was acquitted of all five counts: conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire resulting in death, conspiracy to commit interstate stalking, stalking with a dangerous weapon and stalking resulting in death, as Complex lists them. He had denied the charges throughout. Two co-defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey, were convicted of stalking and stalking conspiracy but cleared of murder-for-hire.

What the case was about

Prosecutors alleged that Durk worked with associates in his Only the Family collective to orchestrate a 2022 attack on Quando Rondo, as revenge for the 2020 killing of Durk’s friend King Von. The shooters missed Rondo and instead killed his cousin Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson, Pitchfork reports. Durk was arrested in October 2024.

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The government’s case leaned on cooperating witnesses who had been co-defendants before pleading guilty. The defense, led by Brian Steel, who also represented Young Thug in his YSL trial, argued that one of them, Kavon “OTF Vonnie” Grant, was the real mastermind and that the witnesses were desperate to avoid life sentences. The judge also allowed prosecutors to use some of Durk’s lyrics, a tactic that artists and First Amendment advocates have criticized, per Pitchfork.

Why he’s still in jail

The verdict does not free him. Durk faces a second trial on racketeering charges that were severed from the first case, and he stays in custody until then. In a statement, first assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said:

while we are disappointed with the jury’s decision, we look forward to presenting our evidence at his second trial, scheduled for October 5.

Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. Attorney, Pitchfork

The wider hip-hop picture

The trial was among the biggest stories in hip-hop this summer. Complex notes it drew public support from Ye and mgk, and its courtroom coverage split rap media for weeks. Durk’s most recent album, Deep Thoughts, was delayed to 2025 after his arrest and opened at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

What happens next now rests with the Oct. 5 trial, which prosecutors say they are ready to bring.

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.