Lil Durk WALKS FREE in Murder-for-Hire Case

Rapper Lil Durk was just handed a major. victory in his federal trial, acquitted. of murder for higher charges in. connection with the shooting of a. reported rival that ended in [music] the. life of just an innocent passenger. But. why did the jury vote this way? What. does it mean for Durk, who's about to go. on trial for a second time next [music]. month by the same prosecutors? Well, I'm. going to bring on an LA Magazine. reporter [music] who is inside that. courtroom for this entire trial. Welcome.

to Sidebar, [music] presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Durk and I made an agreement that we. would make history with the greatest. verdict in this country, and it happened. today. Durk is not guilty of all charges. There's really no other way to say it. than what you just heard from defense. attorney Drew Finley. Rapper Lil Durk. has to be breathing a sigh of relief. after a monumental verdict. After a. two-week trial in Los Angeles, which.

even saw Kanye West and Machine Gun. Kelly in attendance, a jury acquitted. the Grammy award winner in his federal. murder for hire trial. Prosecutors have. claimed that Lil Durk, real name Dirk. Banks, was the one who orchestrated a. hit on a reported rival rapper Quando. Rondo, that resulted in a shooting that. actually took the life of Rondo's. cousin, Savia Robinson. This was back in. 2022. Jury deliberated for three days, found him not guilty of federal charges. of conspiracy, stalking, resulting in.

death, and murder for hire. Now, prosecutors, they'd allege that he. organized the payment, the travel of. hitmen from Chicago to LA to kill Rondo. as a form of revenge for the killing of. Dirk's friend, King Vaughn. He was. killed back in 2020, reportedly by an. associate of Rondo's. And prosecutors. presented all different kinds of digital. evidence and witness testimony of this. shooting on Rondo's Escalade near the. Beverly Center shopping mall. This was.

at a gas station out in Los Angeles. But. Robinson Robinson was the one who was. gunned down. Prosecutor Ian Yaniello in. closing argument said that this was a. criminal agreement that it was a result. of culmination of years of long planning. that the defendants celebrated after. this shooting. Said that quote, "This. case is not about rap. It's not about. celebrity. It's about Savia Robinson. They are guilty on all counts." But. clearly something was lacking in the.

prosecution's case when it came to Lil. Durk, which I'm going to get into in a. moment. But his defense attorney, Brian. Steel, said in closing arguments. regarding reasonable doubt, quote, told. the jury, "You need one. I'm going to. talk about many." And he specifically. even regarded a key prosecution witness. where he said, "How dare they put him in. front of you and continue this story? They know it's a lie." Now, while Durk. was acquitted, same can't be said for. his co-fendants, his alleged. co-conspirators, DeAndre Wilson, David.

Lindseay. They were convicted of. conspiracy to commit stalking. Stalking. using a dangerous weapon, and stalking. resulting in death. They were acquitted. of murder for higher charges. But why. did this happen? And what does this mean. for Lil Durk? Because let me tell you, this is not the end of his legal saga. He's got another federal trial right. around the corner. second chance for the. same federal prosecutors. It's going to. be the same team. And before I bring in. somebody who is in that courtroom for. this entire trial can give perspective.

on why the jury voted the way they did, let's not forget again Lil Durk faces. another federal trial scheduled for next. month and this is around racketeering. So there's murder in aid of racketeering. and apparently also a firearms offense. And this became its own separate issue. because his lawyers were able to get. those charges, those allegations severed. from the trial that just happened. This. new trial is reportedly about entirely. separate allegations that stretched. across state lines in years. alleged.

involvement in a shooting in Chicago, an. attempted murder in Atlanta, that Lil. Durk allegedly runs a criminal. enterprise made up of members from his. music label, Only the Family, that they. allegedly engage in violent crimes and. drug trafficking. And there was drama. there, too, by the way, because. prosecutors filed this new indictment. They wanted to get these new charges. into the trial that just happened, and. the defense objected. They said, "This. is totally unfair. This is last minute.".

You know what District Court Judge. Michael Fitzgerald said at the time? Because he was quite critical of the. prosecution here. I'm going to read you. verbatim from the hearing. He said, quote, "You think that you'll have a. better chance to win if the Chicago. incident is tried with the Los Angeles. murder. I don't doubt that. It's. obvious, but that frankly, you treat. that as a feature and I treat that as a. bug. That is my concern. I think it's. going to be unfair to these gentlemen. And you of course couldn't care less. about that, which I get. If I was still. a prosecutor, I would have the attitude.

that you do, but that is, I am not, and. I am here to make sure that both sides. have a fair trial. Went on to say, "It's. not as if the US Attorney's Office for. the Northern District of Illinois had. become highly suspicious of Mr. Banks. and his music business and therefore had. been investigating this for years. Rather, this very much is the result of. what happened in Los Angeles." And this. third superseding indictment. indisputably is just an attempt, I'll. say, from a legal point of view, a very. clever one, of having the Chicago tail.

wag the Los Angeles dog. Wow, some. colorful commentary there, but quite. critical. And ultimately, the court. allowed for these newly filed charges, these allegations to be severed, to be. filed separately, to now be part of a. new trial. That was a win for the. defense. And Judge Fitzgerald wrote in. his decision, quote, "It has been and. remains the court's intention that the. Los Angeles trial will include all. admissible evidence that is not unduly. prejuditial." You know how we talk about. the dangers of this world a lot here on. Sidebar? This is something that I don't.

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understand as we're about to go into the. second trial, what was missing from the. prosecution's case. What does this mean. for Lil Durk? What does this mean for. his defense? Now, before we go any. further, I'm going to bring on somebody. who was in that courtroom for the whole. trial. Amazing reporting, by the way. I. just want to read you quickly a portion. of the statement from Savia Robinson's. family. It says, "The family of Savvia. Robinson respect the jury's verdict and. appreciate the time and careful. attention the jurors devoted to this. case. The criminal justice system.

requires the government to prove guilt. beyond the reasonable doubt, a very high. standard. The jury has spoken under that. standard." And then the remainder of the. statement talks about a civil case, how. it's a separate proceeding, there's a. different legal standard that they feel. there's ample evidence for a jury to. find that Dirk Banks was responsible for. Mr. Robinson's death under that. standard. So, we'll see which way that. goes, but I just wanted to make. reference to that statement. Okay. So, like I said, I have somebody who was. there for all aspects of this trial.

Taylor Pice from LA magazine. Got a. chance to speak with her earlier. Take a. look. So, Taylor Pice, thank you for. coming on. Good to see you. As somebody. who was in that courtroom every day for. this trial, this verdict comes down. You. surprised? I I think I kind of expected it, but at. the same time, I was surprised. This was. the trial that we were all talking about. every day, long days. And our what we. thought was going to happen changed. every day because the prosecution was.

strong and the defense was strong. So. depending on who you heard from that. day, we thought maybe the it would flip, but no, ultimately he was acquitted. I. think what was the key point that we. weren't surprised about is we never saw. a specific payment in this murder for. hire. And that's kind of what the. prosecution's case rested on was proving. this murder for hire and they just. didn't do it. >> Let me ask you about that. I mean, what. do you think was lacking in the. prosecution's case? Because from a. surface level, when we covered this case. and when people talked about this case, there was communication, right? there.

was a a alleged digital trail connecting. him to or allegedly connecting him to. this shooting. I mean, was that. something that the prosecution focused. on? >> Yeah, I think there were texts that. definitely insinuated he was connected. to this uh this hit on Quando Rondo. We. have a text that said, "Don't book no. flights under my name." We have a text. that said he knows Jam is about ready to. snitch. And I think the question is why. would he be ready to snitch if there. wasn't if there was nothing to snitch. about. So I think that that was.

something that the prosecution did show. However, I think with reasonable doubt. the jury was maybe looking for a. specific like confirmation outright. saying I want you to do this or I will. pay you for this. And we just didn't see. an explicit ex um uh admission in these. text messages. >> And in terms of the defense, what did. they do? They basically put it on his. assistant, Cavan Grant, that he was the. one responsible for this. >> Yeah, he was Durk's right-hand man. He.

had a lot of control over Durk's. finances. At least he had access to. credit cards and resources. He also, they brought up his relationship to King. Vaughn, who this was allegedly a revenge. plot for, who was Kavon Grant's. essentially his cousin, close. relationship, and he also controlled. Kavon's Grant's finances. So they kind. of set Kavon Grant up to be this. mastermind, whereas the prosecution said. he was just doing what he was told. because he was the assistant to Jerk. Banks. >> He testified, right? >> He did testify. Yes.

>> What was that like? >> That started off really strong for the. prosecution. Um but when it came, you. can tell that he is smart. You can tell. that he knew he was smart. And so when. it came for cross-examination, he had a. major attitude with the defense. And in. his jail calls which were played for the. court, he also had that that attitude of. I'm smarter than everyone else. He. essentially said he was smarter than the. prosecution in these jail calls that. were played. And I think the defense. used that to break down his credibility. and kind of show that he was capable of. something like this. >> Our audience knows we follow a lot of.

big trials. Um particularly in the. industry and Brian Steel and Drew. Finling are no strangers to people who. follow the cases that we cover. What. were they like in court? What was their. demeanor like? What were their arguments. like? You don't need me to tell you that. sometime juries, they can really, you. know, focus in on a defense attorney and. how they present themselves. I mean, look at the Lindsay Clansancy case. There were jurors who came out now and. said they really they were sticking to U.

Kevin Readington. So, talk to me about. how they performed, how they presented. Um, were there any memorable moments. from Brian Steel or Drew Finley? Yeah, I. mean to bring up a memorable moment um. there is a point where straight out of a. movie Brian Steel stands up and said. this is outrageous to a redirect from. the prosecution of I believe Jam or. Casey Hester and the judge looked at him. and said this is outrageous that you're. saying what's outrageous in front of a. jury. So that was definitely like quite. the moment from Brian Steel um objecting.

every single line of questioning from. the prosecution on these redirects. But. I think Brian Steel and Drew Finling are. they were very good at putting up this. defense for their client. They very much. switch their tactics depending on who. they're talking to. So they're more. respectful when they're speaking to law. enforcement, when they're speaking to. the judge, when they speak directly to. the jury. Um whereas when they were. speaking to these witnesses, these uh. prosecution's witnesses who were. essentially already had admitted pleaded. guilty to these murders, they they. treated them like criminals. And that is.

very much how they wanted the jury to. view these three people to break down, tear down their um credibility. So you. see them coming in really hot with these. specific witnesses. You see them um. almost poking at their buttons trying to. get them to specifically with Kavon. Grant trying to get him to have this. attitude that ultimately made him look. bad. So it was it was a very intense. thing to watch their the. cross-examinations of these witnesses. But why were the co-conspirators in this. case, alleged co-conspirators, DeAndre.

Wilson, David Lindseay, why were they. convicted of conspiracy to commit. stalking and stalking? What happened. there? >> So, I think what was most important with. their conviction was cell phone data. Um, their cell phones were shown at the. scene of the crime. Um, their cell. phones were shown to be consistently. following Quando Rondo or Taekwon. Bowman. Um, so you see you see them at. the scene. You see them fly out with. only the shirts on their back is what. the prosecution had alleged. You see. them with no bags. You see them drive to.

Los Angeles. And there was essentially. this map of data of their location. And. I think that's ultimately why the uh the. jury likely convicted them on those. stalking charges whereas where for the. murder for hire, we don't ever see a. explicit murder for hire text message or. wire payment. And so that's why those. maybe didn't hold as much weight for the. jury. And to be clear, the counts that. they were convicted of, so the first. two, well, some of them are three to. five years in prison. There's another. one that carries a possible life. sentence. What was the defense? What.

were their defense attorneys arguing? >> Yeah. So, DeAndre Wilson, he was the. passenger defense. So, his attorney. argued that he when he flew out to Los. Angeles, he only had two hours notice. He had no idea what he was going for and. he was simply a passenger. And once he. landed in California, he was essentially. at the will of these people who were. planning to killwondo Rondo and he was. scared and he didn't know how to get um. he didn't know how to get a flight home. on his own. Therefore, he was just a. passenger. He was not knowingly.

involved. And then we have David. Lindsay's attorney who I there is video. footage of the prosecution is alleging. is him. um his clothing allegedly. matches um the actual shooting and then. a place he was seen after a in-n-out. where they quote prosecution alleges. they celebrated. So his defense was. essentially there was no explicit DNA. found. There were no fingerprints found. and David Lindsay was not necessarily. connected to this group before this hit. So why would he kill for people he. didn't know? That seemed to be what both. of their defense attorneys were were.

fighting. >> What did you learn about the beef? like. what did you learn about the. relationship between Lil Durk and um. Quando Rondo? I mean was it established? Did you have questions about it? What. did you understand about the. relationship here about what may have. sparked this? What Wilson felt about. this? What Lindsay felt about this? I. mean, that's a key focus in this case. It's a big It's a longer story um than. just one day. >> Yeah. I think why the passenger defense.

didn't work as well with DeAndre Wilson. is you see how close he is to this. group. He seemed to be in on this beef. Um he is in group text messages where. they discuss it. So the beef seemed to. be going very strong for for years and. years and years. There was beef with. Quondo Rondo and King Vaughn before King. Von was ultimately killed by Timothy. Leaks. And then um we have two years of. these group messages where this group of. people is just grieving King Vaughn the. rapper. and they're they seem all very. emotionally processing, very angry. And.

I mean, you see it in the music. So, the. the defense did the prosecution tried to. use the music as evidence. I don't know. if that necessarily worked out for them, but if you listen to the music, you see. the history there between these two. rappers on both sides. And there's music. videos that show it as well. It's very. clear that there was a lot of animosity. between these two people. And what's. really sad is somebody was caught up in. the mix who was an innocent party. Savvia Robinson, right? Cousin Wondo. Rondo was Savvia Robinson's family there. during this.

>> Yeah. Savvia Robinson's mom was there. for the first half of the trial every. single day. She there was a couple times. she had to step out because we we. witnessed this TMZ video of her son. being pulled from the car after he was. shot. And it was horrific to watch as. someone who wasn't personally connected. to this person. And she had to get up. and leave a few times. Um but she was. there. She was targeted a few times by. the these Dirk fans, these uh these. crowd outside of the courthouse. A. couple times, people inside the. courthouse in the gallery. People were. making comments towards her. And she sat. there with her head held high. And she.

she wanted to be there to support her. son and to let it be known that her son. is the victim in this. And um I think I. we didn't see her at the end of the. trial, but at the first half, she was. there every day. >> So the family wasn't there during the. verdict? >> Not there during the verdict. Not in not. in the Los Angeles courtroom. What was. it like for that verdict to be to come. down? What was Lil Durk's reaction? What. was his defense attorney's reaction? What were the prosecutor's reaction? What was it like? >> It was an intense day and it was this. verdict came at 5:00 p.m. So, we were.

ready to go home. It was 4:30. I was. thinking no verdict was coming. I think. his family was. Everyone did not expect. to get a note at 4:30 saying a verdict. was reached. Um, so even while we were. waiting outside the courtroom to go in. for the verdict, the family of Durk was. silent, very silent, very ad like like. very u anxious clearly. And then we go. inside and we see Durk seems to be. coping with humor. He's joking with Drew. Finling, but he's very antsy and he's. constantly fidgeting. And when the.

verdict is being read for his his. co-fendants, he's swiveling in his. chair. He seems very nervous. Um, we see. the verdict hit DeAndre Wilson very hard. as he knows that he's being convicted on. these three charges. He seems very, very. upset, very disappointed. We don't see. much emotion from David Lindsay, he kind. of is a little more stoic. But with when. it came time for Durk's um the verdict. we had for Durk, silence until every not. guilty plea, we heard gasps, we heard a. clap at one point. Family did a fairly.

good job staying composed, but Durk at. by the end of it, he was in tears. His. mother was in tears. India Royale. His. wife was holding his mother and um even. his defense team seemed very emotional. They were they were hugging him. They. were they were it was a very emotional. uh very emotional moment for everyone in. the courtroom. >> Was the courtroom generally during the. course of this trial split? I mean, did. you have supporters for Lil Durk? Did. you have supporters for Quando Rondo? I. mean, what what it look like in there? >> To be honest, I mostly saw supporters. for Durk in the gallery. We had almost. the entire um side for Durk was filled.

with family the entire time. We had. Kanye West show up. We had Machine Gun. Kelly show up. Like a lot of supporters. on Durk's side and then I was sitting. over on the opposite side of the gallery. and we have a lot of fans that were. coming in here. There was lines every. single day that people were waiting just. in case they could get into the room. Um, a lot of people would come in just. to lay eyes on Lil Durk and then leave. So, it was it was a very interesting. case. I don't think I've ever seen a. courtroom only be full of fans before.

What was it like for, you know, MGK or. uh uh Kanye West to be in that. courtroom? What were they doing? How. were they responding? Was everybody. staring at them? What was it like? >> Everyone was staring at Kanye for sure. Everyone took a peek. Um Machine Gun. Kelly, honestly, he was kind seemed kind. of normal. He was chatting with the. family. He seemed very comfortable um. with Lil Durk's crowd. And then uh Kanye. was very hard to read. He was very. quiet. Stood straight stared straight. ahead the entire time. and he he didn't. stay for too long, but yeah, there were.

definitely eyes on him. >> Yeah, he's uh very hard to read in. general. Kanye West, very unpredictable. character. This is not the end of the. story for anybody knows. This is not the. end of the story with Lil Durk. He faces. a separate racketeering trial that I. want to ask you about because first of. all, um first assistant US attorney. Billis released uh this statement uh. after the verdicts. It said, quote, "Today, the jury delivered just to the. family of Savvia Robinson, finding. defendants DeAndre Wilson and David. Lindseay guilty of stalking resulting in.

Mr. Robinson's death. While we were. disappointed with the jury's decision. regarding Dirk Banks, aka Lil Durk, we. look forward to presenting our evidence. at his second trial scheduled for. October 5th when he will face. racketeering, murderer, and firearms. charges." What is that case about? How. does that relate to what we just saw? And I guess the most important question, Taylor, is are you going to be there for. that one? >> I will definitely be there. It's. supposed to start on October 5th, so.

I've already cleared my calendar for. that week. Um, but as far as what this. is about, there's a lot of confusion, I. think, on what this is about. People are. confused why he's not free right away. Um, we do maybe expect for them to uh. the defense to ask for a second. reconsideration on bond, but as of right. now, this is a racketeering charge. So, this is about alleged gang relations. with Only the Family or F, which is this. music label that the prosecution is also. alleging has gang activity and gang. violence. And so, while some people are. alleging it's only based out of murders.

in Chicago, it's actually also involved. uh tied into Savia Robinson's murder. And so, the prosecution is going to be. trying to prove that F has these uh. these gang affiliations and this this. it's this organization that is a. criminal organization. and they're going. to have to prove that Durk is at the. center of it all and that these actions. or these consequences like Savvia. Robinson's murder are as a result of. this gang activity. >> So, you're going to see overlap, right? You're going to see overlap. >> We're going to see overlap for sure. And.

I also think we're going to see a lot of. new information the prosecution wasn't. allowed to bring into this trial. So, I'm very fascinated to see what more. they have and um if they're able to. convince a jury about Lil Little Durk's. involvement this time. Is this the same. teams, same prosecutor, same defense. attorneys going at it again? >> Yes, same prosecution, same judge, same. defense team. Um, for all three of the. codefendants, the only thing we're. getting is a new jury. >> And in your opinion, in your opinion, from what we see, strength of the. prosecution's case here versus what we.

just saw. >> I honestly have no idea. I do think the. prosecution, even though they didn't get. that guilty verdict with Lil Durk, I. think they did a great job um in their. arguments and I think they have a very. strong team. So that's why I'm very. interested to see if there's new. information they're going to be bringing. that connects Durk more directly than. they were able to prove in this first. trial. >> So Taylor, tell everybody where they can. follow you, how they can see your. up-to-date reporting on this. I mean, it's the reason we couldn't believe you. were fantastic during the course of. this. So, just let everybody know if.

they want to see which the work you've. been doing and particularly with this. trial coming on, uh, where they can find. you. >> Yeah. So, we have the full breakdowns at. lamag.com in very in-depth articles. And. then on X, we do more live updates and. that's going to be LA Mag on X and. Taylor Pares on X. >> Say hi to Lauren Conlin for me. She's. one of my favorites. So, great. Thank. you so much for coming on. Really. appreciate it. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple.

Podcast, Spotify, wherever [music] you. should get your podcast. You can also. check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, ex Instagram, my NewsNation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 pm Eastern. [music] I'll see you next time, everybody.