As the murder-for-hire trial of Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk got underway Monday in Los Angeles, prosecutors painted him as a man “consumed with revenge” after the killing of a close friend.
In opening statements, Asst. U.S. Atty. Daniel Weiner told jurors that the rapper, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, wanted payback for the shooting death of Dayvon Bennett, known as King Von. In order to exact that revenge, Weiner said Banks had hitmen target Tyquian Terrel Bowman, also known as Quando Rondo.
Instead of killing Bowman, Weiner said, the hitmen fatally shot Bowman’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, 24, in a botched ambush near the Beverly Center mall in L.A. in 2022.
“This is a case about revenge, stalking and pre-meditated murder,” Weiner told jurors. “It was defendant Banks’ beef, it was defendant Banks’ money, it was defendant Banks’ hitmen.”
Banks’ attorney, Marissa Goldberg, pushed back on that argument, placing the blame squarely on King Von’s friend from birth Kavon Grant, a former personal assistant to Banks who has since pleaded guilty in the case and turned cooperating witness for the government.
Goldberg painted Grant as the mastermind who, once caught, tried to minimize his involvement and turn over “a big fish” like Banks. It was Grant, Goldberg said, who booked the hotels, secured cars and went to REI and bought skimasks ahead of the shooting.
“Mr. Banks had nothing to do with it,” Goldberg said. “He was not there, he was not connected to it.”
Banks, 33, has pleaded not guilty to charges against him, which include stalking resulting in death and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death. Prosecutors allege Banks used “coded language” to tell co-conspirators that he would pay a bounty or monetary reward to anyone who took part in the killing of Bowman.
On trial alongside Banks are David Lindsey, one of the alleged shooters, and Deondre Wilson. Both deny the charges against them.
Two other alleged co-conspirators, Keith Jones and Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, have taken plea deals and are set to testify against Banks.
On Monday, Banks’ family and supporters, including the rapper Machine Gun Kelly, packed the courtroom. Before the jury was brought in, Banks, dressed in a gray suit, blew a kiss to his wife.
At times, people in the gallery grew emotional, with one woman breaking down in sobs as prosecutors played video of the August shooting.
In his opening statement, Weiner described Banks as a “prominent musician” but stressed that the case “is not about music. It is about murder.” Banks, Weiner said, “used his wealth and used his purse strings” to seek revenge.
Goldberg said there was no payment by Banks and “no money to follow.”
“This is a murder-for-hire allegation where nobody gets paid,” Goldberg said. “There is no evidence because that evidence against Mr. Banks does not exist.”
Goldberg told the jurors that the government would present them with Banks’ songs and lyrics “and try to say it’s hatred.”
“That was a channeling of emotions through his artwork,” Goldberg said. “This is art, this is performance, this is what he did for a living.”
Banks won a Grammy in February 2024 for best melodic rap performance for “All My Life” featuring J. Cole.
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