Rapper Durk Banks, known professionally as Lil Durk, was acquitted Friday of federal charges related to a 2022 murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of Savianya Robinson in Los Angeles. The jury found Banks not guilty on five counts, including stalking and orchestrating the fatal ambush. The verdict concluded a highly publicized trial centered on a prominent artist with multiple chart-topping albums.
After three days of deliberations, the jury cleared Banks, who faced potentially life-altering consequences. He remains in custody ahead of a separate federal racketeering trial scheduled to begin in October in Chicago. That case accuses Banks of leading Only the Family, his rap label, as a criminal enterprise involved in several violent acts, including shootings in 2021 and 2022, allegations he denies.
Two other defendants charged alongside Banks, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey, were acquitted of murder-for-hire but convicted on stalking offenses. Their roles were tied to the same 2022 attack that led to Robinson’s death.
Prosecutors contended that Banks arranged the attack as retaliation against rival rapper Tyquan Bowman, known as Quando Rondo. The dispute reportedly traced back to a 2020 altercation in Atlanta that resulted in the shooting death of Dayvon Bennett, aka King Von, a close friend of Banks. Prosecutors said Banks was motivated by revenge and social media pressure urging him to “slide for Von,” coordinating the hit by funding travel, vehicles, communication devices, and disguises for his associates.
The government’s case relied heavily on testimony from three of Banks’s associates, including two former co-defendants and a third cooperating witness. They testified Banks offered cash rewards—one claimed as much as $1 million—to carry out the shooting. The trio described a coordinated assault at a Los Angeles gas station, but all maintained that Banks was not physically present and did not directly pay them.
Defense attorneys disputed the prosecution’s narrative, positioning one associate, Kavon Grant, a cousin of the late King Von, as the primary architect of the shooting. They highlighted Grant’s access to Banks’s personal information and finances, which were used to book travel for others allegedly involved. A defense witness recounted Grant expressing his own desire for revenge well before the attack.
The defense argued that Banks was unfairly targeted because of his fame, pointing out the absence of direct payment following the shooting and stressing reasonable doubt. They also challenged the use of Banks's rap lyrics and interviews as evidence, though the judge permitted some excerpts that prosecutors said illuminated Banks’s mindset in the aftermath of Bennett’s death.
Throughout the three-week trial, the court saw high-profile attention, with various celebrities attending proceedings and publicly supporting Banks. Despite the acquittal, prosecutors indicated plans to vigorously pursue the ongoing racketeering trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli expressed disappointment with the jury’s verdict but affirmed commitment to presenting evidence in the upcoming case against Banks.
The trial cast a spotlight on intersections of music, violence, and criminal justice, underscoring the complex dynamics surrounding prominent figures in the rap industry.