{"id":2102677,"date":"2026-08-20T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2102677"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:00:00","slug":"lil-durk-is-going-to-trial-on-murder-for-hire-charges-heres-what-to-know-about-the-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2102677","title":{"rendered":"Lil Durk Is Going to Trial on Murder-for-Hire Charges. Here\u2019s What to Know About the Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tNearly 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tJury 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.<\/p>\n

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\"NEWARK,<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tLil Durk\u2019s August Murder-for-Hire Trial on Track as Judge Scolds Prosecutor: \u2018You Had Over a\u00a0Year\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

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    Rachel Scharf<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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    \n\tDurk 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 \u2014 who was not in L.A. during the incident \u2014 has argued that prosecutors don\u2019t have real evidence linking him to the crime. Now, it\u2019ll be up to jurors in Los Angeles to decide whether the case is proven beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

    \n\tThe \u201cAll My Life\u201d hitmaker (born Durk Banks) has assembled an all-star team of attorneys for the task. He\u2019s 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\u2019s law partner Marissa Goldberg <\/strong>and L.A.-based defender Christy O\u2019Connor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    \n\tAlso on trial alongside Durk will be OTF crew associates Deandre \u201cOTF Dede\u201d Wilson and David \u201cBrowneyez\u201d Lindsey. Prosecutors allege these men traveled from Chicago to L.A. on Durk\u2019s orders to participate in the 2022 killing, charges they deny.<\/p>\n

    \n\tThe trial is expected to last several weeks. The prosecution\u2019s 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, \u201cDon\u2019t book no flights under no names involved wit me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    \"LOS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    \t\t\t\t\tLil Durk Murder-For-Hire Case: Feds Add New Racketeering Charge Alleging OTF Gang\u00a0Violence\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

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      Rachel Scharf<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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      \n\tCrucially, the jury is also expected to hear some of Durk\u2019s 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: \u201cWho Want Smoke??\u201d, \u201cAhhh Ha\u201d and \u201cPissed Me Off,\u201d all of which cracked the top 10 of Billboard<\/em>\u2018s Hot R&B\/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

      \n\tProsecutors claim these songs demonstrate Durk\u2019s desire to avenge Von\u2019s killing. On \u201cAhhh Ha,\u201d for example, he rapped, \u201cDon\u2019t respond to s\u2013t with Von\/ I\u2019m like, \u2018f\u2013k it, you trippin\u2019, go get your gun\u2019\/ They droppin\u2019 locations, I\u2019m getting\u2019 it done\/ F\u2013k tweetin\u2019, we slidin\u2019, the feds are comin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \n\tDurk\u2019s lawyers deny that the rapper\u2019s music proves any motive, saying prosecutors have misleadingly twisted his words to fit their own narrative. They successfully argued to get some lyrics excluded from the trial, though many were allowed in. \u00a0<\/p>\n

      \n\tThe use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases is controversial. Critics argue that it threatens free speech and injects racial bias into legal proceedings, and several states have banned or limited this practice for local prosecutions. It\u2019s still legal in federal court, however, despite a long-stalled legislative proposal that calls on Congress to change that. \u00a0<\/p>\n

      \n\tAs for witnesses, multiple members of the alleged conspiracy have agreed to cooperate and testify for the prosecution in exchange for leniency. This includes Durk\u2019s associate Kacey \u201cOTF Jam\u201d Hester and Kavon \u201cVonnie\u201d Grant. Vonnie was initially charged in the case, while OTF Jam was not.<\/p>\n

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      \t\t\t\t\tRap On Trial: The Long Battle to Keep Hip-Hop Lyrics Out of\u00a0Court\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

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        Bill Donahue<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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        \n\tIt\u2019s not yet known whether Durk or the other OTF defendants will take the witness stand to defend their innocence. All criminal defendants have the right to testify at their own trials but are not required to do so. The vast majority choose not to, since giving testimony opens the door to risky cross-examination.<\/p>\n

        \n\tIf convicted of murder-for-hire, Durk and his co-defendants face up to life in prison. Yet, regardless of the outcome, the conclusion of this trial might not be the end of the road for their criminal case. That\u2019s because the group still faces additional racketeering charges for allegedly plotting other gang-related murders over the years, and these counts could be tried before a different jury at a later date.<\/p>\n

        \n\tProsecutors filed those extra racketeering charges in June, just two months before the already-delayed trial was set to begin. Durk\u2019s lawyers called this addition \u201clipstick on a pig\u201d and said it was a clear attempt to bulk up a \u201cvery weak case\u201d with unrelated evidence. Judge Fitzgerald scolded prosecutors for the last-minute gambit and ruled that the new racketeering counts would be excluded from the initial August trial.<\/p>\n

        \"Billboard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

        [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/lil-durk-trial-murder-hire-charges-explained-what-to-know\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1696534669-e1787163008770.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2102677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2102677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2102677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2102677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2102677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}