Lil Durk Acquitted in Murder-for-Hire Plot

A federal jury has found Lil Durk not guilty of plotting to kill Georgia rapper Quando Rondo. Durk has been in federal custody since 2024, when he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, along with four additional charges. His co-defendants, Deandre Wilson and David Lindsay, were found guilty on stalking and stalking conspiracy charges but acquitted on the rest.Prosecutors argued Durk worked with a cohort of five men tied to his Only the Family (OTF) collective to orchestrate a hit on Bowman, born Tyquian Bowman, as revenge for the 2020 murder of Durk’s friend King Von. Timothy “Lul Timm” Leeks, who prosecutors said was “an associate” of Bowman’s, was later charged with killing Von. Those charges were eventually dropped.The federal government’s indictment stated Durk expressed plans to pay out a bounty in exchange for Bowman’s killing. The case was mostly built on the testimony of Durk’s associates, who were initially charged as co-defendants before pleading guilty. Prosecutors sought to use Durk’s lyrics as evidence in the case, a controversial tactic many artists and First Amendment advocates have criticized. Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled to admit ...