Lil Durk Trial Week 2 Recap: Defense Witness Calls Key Cooperator ‘A Liar and a Thief’
Billboard is running down the key moments from the second week of the murder-for-hire trial.
Lil Durk performs during iHeart Powerhouse 105.1 at Prudential Center on October 28, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
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The second and final week of evidence in Lil Durk’s trial featured more government witnesses who said the rap star organized a murder — but also a defense case that questioned the credibility of that testimony.
You’re reading Billboard‘s weekly Lil Durk trial recap, a one-sheet breakdown of everything that happened in the murder-for-hire case over the past week. Stay tuned here each Friday for all the testimony and big events you might have missed.
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Durk is charged with ordering his Only the Family (OTF) 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 Rondo’s cousin, known as Lul Pab, was killed in the crossfire.
In the trial that began Aug. 24, prosecutors have built their case around testimony from co-conspirators who have pleaded guilty to the murder and claim Durk was behind the plot. One of the men who shot at Rondo, Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, took the witness stand in the first week and called the attack “sloppy.”
A second shooter, Keith “Flacka” Jones, testified on Monday (Aug. 31) that Durk promised him $1 million to kill Rondo but never followed through with the payment. Durk’s former assistant, Kavon “Vonnie” Grant, told the jury on Tuesday (Sept. 1) that he coordinated the logistics of the 2022 shooting but kept Durk updated each step of the way. He said Durk was “excited” and “joyful” when news broke of Pab’s death.
“Finally, we got somebody for the revenge of King Von’s death,” said Vonnie of Durk’s reaction, according to trial transcripts reviewed by Billboard.
Durk says he had nothing to do with the shooting, and his lawyers have argued that all the cooperating witnesses are lying to shorten their own prison sentences. Defense attorney Drew Findling went particularly hard during the cross-examination of Vonnie, whom Durk’s team claims was the actual mastermind of the murder.
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Findling played numerous recordings of phone calls Vonnie has made from jail, including one in which he said that the trial testimony would be his “time to shine” and “perform,” as well as others where he’s heard discussing plans to make money selling his story to a TV show.
“You were willing to sacrifice people, whether it’s their lives or whether it’s their freedom, so you can walk away. Is that correct?” Findling asked Vonnie.
Vonnie replied “no” to that question, and then asked Findling himself, “Who wouldn’t want to get out of jail?”
“I don’t know,” responded Findling. “Maybe somebody that … successfully organized the unintentional assassination of a young man from Savannah whose mom weeps his loss because of you. Maybe that is a reason why you shouldn’t get on your Nikes and bolt out of here. Maybe that is a good reason.”
Prosecutors rested their case in the morning on Thursday (Sept. 3). Durk’s team then called witnesses of their own, many of whom said the cooperators are not to be believed. Shekema Springfield, who claims she knew Vonnie well, testified, “He’s a liar and a thief.” Similarly, OTF Jam’s ex-girlfriend told the jury, “He’s not truthful at all. He’s a manipulator.”
The defense also spent some time on Thursday calling witnesses to rebut the prosecution’s theory that Durk telegraphed the Rondo murder plot in his music. Jurors have heard multiple Durk lyrics throughout the trial, including a portion of his 2022 hit “Ahhh Ha:” “Don’t respond to s–t with Von/ I’m like, ‘f–k it, you trippin’, go get your gun’/ They droppin’ locations, I’m gettin’ it done/ F–k tweetin’, we slidin’, the feds are comin’.”
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Durk’s attorneys have argued that these lyrics were not literal, but instead were artistic expression tailored for commercial success. Sanchay Jain, a former senior vp of marketing at Durk’s label Alamo Records, bolstered this argument in his testimony.
“Violence sells in entertainment,” said Jain. “The biggest video game right now, Grand Theft Auto, promotes violence. The biggest movie of the summer is The Odyssey. It promotes violence.”
Durk’s longtime recording engineer, Justin Gibson, testified that the rapper made “Ahhh Ha” in particular to “capitalize off the situation” with Von. The track spent 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 18.
“The people on social media really wanted him to have a response, and he just figured because of the momentum he had from other songs and the fact that the label wanted him to put up numbers, that he ought to say something about it and it would get a good reaction,” said Gibson.
Durk’s lawyers rested their case Thursday. The jury is set to return on Tuesday (Sept. 8) for closing arguments, and then they will begin to deliberate. Durk is charged with numerous counts including conspiracy, stalking and murder-for-hire, and he faces up to life in prison if convicted.
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