Grammy-winning US rapper Lil Durk was acquitted on Friday of all charges in a federal murder-for-hire trial, according to BBC News. The Chicago rapper, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, was accused of orchestrating the revenge killing of a man shot dead in a daytime ambush in Los Angeles four years ago. The verdict came after three days of jury deliberations, with the jury finding Banks not guilty of five felony counts, including murder for hire resulting in death and conspiracy. If convicted, he could have faced a life sentence.

The case stems from a fatal shooting in August 2022 at a petrol station in Los Angeles, where a car carrying rapper Tyquian Bowman, known as Quando Rondo, was shot at. Bowman was unharmed, but his cousin Saviay’a Robinson, who was also in the car, was killed. Federal prosecutors accused Banks of plotting to kill Bowman, in retaliation for the earlier murder of Chicago OTF rapper King Von, who was killed in 2020 during an early-morning exchange of gunfire in Atlanta. A friend of Bowman was charged with King Von’s murder, but the charges were later dropped. Bowman was not arrested or charged.

Banks remains in custody and faces a separate trial on 5 October, where he will face racketeering murder and firearms charges. The first assistant US attorney, Bill Essayli, stated that while disappointed with the jury’s decision, the prosecution looks forward to presenting its evidence at the second trial. The trial involved three co-operating witnesses, Kavon Grant, Keith Jones, and Kacey Hester, who reached plea deals and testified against Banks, along with co-defendants Deandre Wilson and David Lindsey. Wilson and Lindsey were convicted of stalking and conspiracy to commit stalking but acquitted of murder-for-hire charges.

The defense team cast doubt on the reliability of Hester’s testimony, arguing that he was seeking a more lenient sentence. They also sought to portray Kavon Grant, Banks’s former assistant, as the mastermind of the 2,022 shooting. Prosecutors rejected this, with assistant US attorney Ian Yanniello stating that while no one is saying Grant was on the ground with a gun, the story does not make sense without his leadership.

The case drew attention from fans and celebrity supporters, with supporters cheering outside the Los Angeles courthouse. Banks, who founded OTF in 2010, won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his single 'All My Life' featuring J Cole. He has also been nominated for a Grammy three other times.