Lil Durk Is Going to Trial on Murder-for-Hire Charges. Here’s What to Know About the Case
Categoria: Musica
A jury will decide whether the Chicago rapper put a bounty on rival Quando Rondo. Billboard breaks down the legal situation and what to expect at trial.
Por Billboard | 20/08/2026
Nearly two years after his arrest on murder-for-hire charges, the once-ascendant Chicago rapper Lil Durk is set to face a trial in federal court. Jury selection begins on Thursday (Aug. 20) in the case that alleges Durk ordered members of his Only the Family (OTF) label crew to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo in retaliation for the 2020 killing of his close friend and collaborator King Von . Rondo was shot at a Los Angeles gas station in 2022 and survived, but another man known as Lul Pab was killed in the crossfire. Related Lil Durk’s August Murder-for-Hire Trial on Track as Judge Scolds Prosecutor: ‘You Had Over a Year’ HYBE Pledges Over $300k for Colombia Earthquake Recovery BE:FIRST Is Ready for the World: Inside the J-Pop Superstars' Long-Planned U.S. Breakthrough Durk maintains his innocence and denies that he ever put a bounty out for the killing. Since being arrested and charged in October 2024, the rapper — who was not in L.A. during the incident — has argued that prosecutors don’t have real evidence linking him to the crime. Now, it’ll be up to jurors in Los Angeles to decide whether the case is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The “All My Life” hitmaker (born Durk Banks) has assembled an all-star team of attorneys for the task. He’s repped by both Drew Findling and Brian Steel , two criminal defense attorneys out of Atlanta known for taking on some of the biggest criminal cases in the hip-hop world. Between the two, Findling and Steel have represented Diddy, Young Thug, Cardi B, Offset, Gucci Mane and NBA YoungBoy. Rounding out the defense table are Findling’s law partner Marissa Goldberg and L.A.-based defender Christy O’Connor . Also on trial alongside Durk will be OTF crew associates Deandre “OTF Dede” Wilson and David “Browneyez” Lindsey. Prosecutors allege these men traveled from Chicago to L.A. on Durk’s orders to participate in the 2022 killing, charges they deny. The trial is expected to last several weeks. The prosecution’s trove of evidence includes surveillance footage that supposedly shows the men following Rondo around L.A. before the deadly gunfire, as well as text messages between the alleged co-conspirators. In one such message, when the plot was allegedly in the planning phase, Durk wrote to an associate, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.” Related Lil Durk Murder-For-Hire Case: Feds Add New Racketeering Charge Alleging OTF Gang Violence Crucially, the jury is also expected to hear some of Durk’s music during the trial. Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald has ruled that prosecutors will be able to present lyrics and music videos from three hit Durk songs: “Who Want Smoke??”, “Ahhh Ha” and “Pissed Me Off,” all of which cracked the top 10 of Billboard ‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2021 and 2022. Prosecutors claim these songs demonstrate Durk’s desire to avenge Von’s killing. On “Ahhh Ha,” for example, he rapped, “Don’t respond to s–t with Von/ I’m like, ‘f–k it, you trippin’, go get you