Rapper Lil Durk found not guilty of murder-for-hire

The Grammy-winning artist was charged with murder-for-hire over his role in the death of 24-year-old Saviay'a Robinson.LOS ANGELES (CN) — A jury found Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk not guilty of federal murder-for-hire charges on Friday, for his role in the killing of 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson in West Hollywood, California.Two other defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey, were found guilty of stalking but acquitted on the murder-for-hire charges they faced.Durk began to cry as the verdict was read, putting his fingers on the bridge of his nose.Prosecutors said Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, had sworn to avenge the death of his close friend and fellow rapper, King Von, who had been shot in Atlanta following a fistfight with rival hip-hop artist Quando Rondo. For two days, six men followed Quando Rondo around Los Angeles. When he stopped at a gas station across the street from the Beverly Center, three of the men donned ski masks and sprayed Rondo’s car with bullets. They missed their target but hit Robinson, who died shortly thereafter.Banks, Wilson and Lindsey were charged with stalking and murder-for-hire over their role in revenge plot gone awry. Prosecutors argued Banks’ record label, OTF (short for “Only the Family”), doubled as a criminal street gang, and Banks had tasked its members with “sliding for Von” — that is, killing Rondo for a handsome cash reward. Lindsey, they said, was one of the masked shooters, while Wilson helped organize the trip and rode in another car.The roughly two-week trial featured three cooperating witnesses, including Banks’ former personal assistant, Kavon Grant, who handled the administrative details of the LA trip, procuring guns and a stolen car. Banks’ attorneys blamed Robinson’s death on Grant, calling him the “mastermind” of the revenge plot who “manipulated the FBI and the LAPD" into targeting Banks. Grant and the other cooperating witnesses, Kacey Hester and Keith Jones, two of the masked shooters, told the jury that Banks had ordered the killing, and had kept in touch with conspirators while they followed Rondo around.“Do you think we got him?” Grant recalled Banks asking him, hours after the wild shooting. Grant said he wasn’t sure. Later, when they learned of Robinson’s death, Grant said Banks’s reaction was: “Finally, we got somebody.”Hester, too, said Banks was satisfied with the murder of Robinson, who was known as Lil Pab.“He told me, ‘We didn’t get Quando but we got Lil Pab,” Hester testified. “Pab counts.”In their closing arguments, Banks’ attorneys excoriated the three cooperating witnesses, calling them “snitches, cooperators, rats," and argued they couldn’t be trusted because they were testifying in the hopes of having their sentences reduced.As for the investigators, defense attorney Brian Steel said, “They targeted Durk. They put a target on a human being. A celebrity human being. That’s why we’re here.”But prosecutors also presented physical evidence linking Banks to the murder-for-hire, including GPS data from Grant’s vehicle, showing the car making a number of trips to and from Banks’ rental house in Encino, California, before and after the shooting. Financial records showed plane tickets for the six perpetrators were purchased by Banks’ manager, using Banks’ own credit card. The return trips to Chicago were booked hours after the shooting.They also presented text messages to the jury, some of which showed Banks concerned about being connected to the crime. In one, he worried that Hester was “ready to snitch.” In fact, Hester was already talking to the FBI.And the jury was shown some of Banks’ rap lyrics, some of which referenced Von’s death and “sliding for Von” — street parlance for taking revenge. In one, he rapped prophetically: “If you can’t get the main n—a then you better get his guy.”The jury deliberated for three days.This is a developing story and will be updated.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads