Watch: Rapper Lil Durk Arrested on Murder-for-Hire Charges
Lil Durk is going free.
The “All My Life” rapper was found not guilty of all charges in a murder-for-hire trial on Sept. 11, with a Los Angeles jury determining that the 33-year-old was not responsible for the fatal shooting of Saviay’a Robinson in 2022.
Durk (real name Durk Banks) had pled not guilty to five charges in the case, including stalking and orchestrating a murder-for-hire.
Prosecutors accused Durk of being “consumed with revenge” over the death of his friend King Von (real name Dayvon Bennett), who was fatally shot in Atlanta in 2020 following a fight with associates of rapper Quando Rondo (real nameTyquian Bowman), per The New York Times.
Prosecutors alleged that Durk used “coded language” to order hitmen to take out Rondo, saying gunmen ambushed the “Scarred from Love” artist at a gas station near the Beverly Center shopping mall and fired at least 18 rounds from various weapons, including a machine gun, per Rolling Stone.
The shooting led to the death of Rondo’s cousin Robinson, who was standing by Rondo’s car at the gas station.
Durk has received support from multiple high-profile musical artists during his trial, with Kanye “Ye” West posing for photos outside the courthouse on Aug. 27 while holding up a black T-shirt reading “Free Durk,” per the Times.
Machine Gun Kelly also reportedly watched the proceedings from an overflow room, writing on social media afterward, “This been my bro for a decade.”
“When he called and asked if id pull up and support im there no question,” MGK wrote on X. “Free durk.”
Vashon Jordan Jr./Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Durk’s lawyers alleged that the mastermind of the shooting was OTF Vonnie (real name Kavon Grant), who testified that he was involved in another shooting that targeted Rondo in Georgia in 2021, per the Times.
Durk’s attorney Marissa Goldberg argued in court that Vonnie thought his “only way out of jail” was blaming Durk, who she said had “nothing to do with it. He was not there. He was not connected to it,” according to Rolling Stone.
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