Lil Durk beat every charge submitted against him in his federal murder-for-hire trial, but the legal battle is not over: a separate racketeering-related case is keeping him in custody ahead of an October 5 trial.
A federal jury in Los Angeles found Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, not guilty on every count submitted against him on Friday, September 11, after three days of deliberations. The verdict removed the possibility of a conviction in the murder-for-hire case that had exposed the Grammy-winning rapper to a potential life sentence, while Reuters reported that he nevertheless remains in federal custody.
The case stemmed from the August 19, 2022 shooting near Los Angeles’ Beverly Center that killed Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson, the cousin of Quando Rondo, while Rondo survived. Prosecutors argued throughout the murder-for-hire trial that the attack was retaliation connected to the 2020 death of King Von, Durk’s close friend and OTF collaborator, and that Banks financed and directed the plot.
Durk’s defense attacked that theory by challenging the credibility of cooperating witnesses and arguing that former assistant Kavon Grant had access to Durk’s resources and handled key logistics without Banks directing the shooting.
Lawyers including Brian Steel also fought prosecutors over alleged coded language, witness testimony and rap lyrics used as evidence; meanwhile, co-defendants Deandre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey were acquitted of the central murder-for-hire allegations but convicted on stalking-related charges, while Durk received a complete acquittal on the charges against him.
Despite that win, Durk did not walk out of court. The reason is the separate racketeering case that remained outside the first trial: according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, Durk is still being held ahead of an October 5 trial on murder-related racketeering and weapons offenses, with Wilson and Lindsey also due to face the remaining counts.
The next case grew out of a superseding indictment filed in June and a July ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald that severed the newly added racketeering-related allegations from the murder-for-hire trial.
Prosecutors have described a broader alleged enterprise and pointed to conduct including a 2019 Atlanta shooting and the January 2022 killing of Stephon Mack in Chicago as part of that theory, while Durk’s attorneys have denied that he ran a criminal enterprise and have stressed that the earlier Georgia charges were dropped and that he was not charged with Mack’s murder.
Friday’s acquittal may give Durk’s lawyers grounds to ask the court to revisit pretrial detention, but it does not automatically cancel the detention order attached to the charges that remain pending. As of September 12, no verified court ruling has ordered his release and no release date has been announced, so claims that the verdict means he is immediately free are inaccurate.
On the music side, there is likewise no verified post-verdict tour, album rollout or return-to-stage announcement tied to the acquittal. The next confirmed milestone for Lil Durk is legal, not musical: the October 5 trial, and until his custody status changes or that case is resolved, any timeline for a full public career comeback remains unconfirmed.
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