Chicago rapper Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire trial moved into its final stages Thursday as his defense team called nine witnesses to the stand, including the wife of a key prosecution witness. Both the defense and prosecution then rested their cases, with closing arguments scheduled to begin the following Tuesday.
Durk Banks faces charges of ordering a hit on rival rapper Quando Rondo in alleged retaliation for the 2020 death of his friend and protégé King Von. Prosecutors contend that Banks placed a bounty on Rondo, leading associates of his Only The Family collective to open fire on Rondo’s vehicle at a gas station near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles on August 19, 2022. Rondo survived the attack, but his cousin was killed.
The defense strategy included calling Lashanta Hester, wife of prosecution cooperator Kasey “OTF Jam” Hester, to challenge her husband’s account. Hester testified that she never witnessed phone conversations her husband claimed occurred with co-defendants, directly contradicting his testimony about being instructed to travel to California. The defense also called Shekema Springfield, an Army officer and former partner of King Von, to counter allegations about how the shooting was organized.
The government’s case relies heavily on testimony from multiple cooperating witnesses who have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the incident.
Originally reported by Rollingstone →
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