Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Trial: Prosecutors Revisit King Von’s Murder

Federal prosecutors did not open their case with a gun. They opened it with grief. On the second day of Lil Durk murder-for-hire trial, the government spent an afternoon on a killing that happened six years ago and 2,000 miles away.

That killing was King Von’s. Von, legal name Dayvon Bennett, was shot outside an Atlanta hookah lounge in November 2020. He was signed to Durk’s label, Only the Family. Prosecutors say his death is the reason a man died in Los Angeles two years later. Durk, legal name Durk Banks, has pleaded not guilty to all counts. He denies ordering anyone to kill. The trial opened on August 24 before U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald. It is now in its third week.

What Prosecutors Showed the Jury About King Von

FBI agent Jarron Farmby took the stand on August 25. He walked jurors through private messages between Durk and Jason Smith, a close friend and business associate. The thread began on November 6, 2020, the night Von was killed.

In one message read aloud, Durk said he felt dead inside. Hours after the shooting, he sent Smith surveillance footage of the confrontation. In the days that followed, the tone shifted.

Prosecutors highlighted three lines in particular. Durk wrote that Von’s death had turned him into a different animal. He said he could not let it slide. Responding to a rapper who mocked Von, he wrote three words: wait on the get back.

The government’s argument is not subtle. Grief became intent. Intent became a plan.

Prosecutors then jumped forward to August 2022. Smith sent Durk a news screenshot about the death of Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson. He also sent a clip of Quando Rondo reacting at the scene. Durk did not reply to either message. Two days later, he changed his phone number.

Jurors were also shown Instagram activity from co-defendant Deandre “OTF Dede” Wilson. Prosecutors say he responded with laughing emojis under the video of Rondo’s distress.

Why a 2020 Killing Belongs in a 2022 Murder Case

Durk is not charged with anything connected to King Von’s death. So why is it in the courtroom at all?

Because motive is an element the government wants to prove. Prosecutor Daniel Weiner told jurors this is a story of revenge. He said Durk was consumed by it. To make that stick, the government needs a starting point. Von’s death is that starting point.

The defense has fought this at every turn. Attorney Brian Steel has argued the alleged gang material goes well beyond the charges. A lawyer for Wilson challenged whether Farmby qualified as an expert at all.

The fight has extended to a podcast interview. Prosecutors introduced a clip of Durk speaking with DJ Akademiks as Government Exhibit 169. On August 30, the defense asked the judge to admit more of that same interview under Federal Rule of Evidence 106. They pointed to a line about turning hate into love. On September 1, the judge denied the request.

This is the quiet battle running underneath the headlines. Both sides are arguing over how much of Durk’s public grief the jury gets to see.

What the Official Record Actually Says About King Von’s Death

Trial coverage tends to summarise Von’s death in a single clause. The documented record is more specific, and more limited, than most reporting suggests.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office examined Bennett on November 6, 2020, the day he died. The case was logged as number 2020-2344. The listed cause of death was gunshot wounds of the torso and thighs. The manner of death was classified as homicide. He was 26.

The public statement stops there. It does not give a shot count. It does not list wound trajectories, damaged organs, or toxicology results. Anyone repeating those numbers online is going beyond the document. For a full breakdown of the King Von autopsy report and its official cause of death, including which widely shared claims the record does not support, see our full case file.

One distinction matters enormously here. A medical examiner’s finding of homicide is not a criminal verdict. It means a death resulted from another person’s actions. It does not decide whether that act was legally murder.

The criminal case bears this out. Timothy “Lul Tim” Leeks was initially arrested and formally indicted by a Fulton County grand jury in March 2021 in connection with Von’s death. His attorney later confirmed the murder charges were ultimately dismissed in August 2023 under Georgia’s “stand-your-ground” law, after successfully arguing Leeks used deadly force to defend rapper Quando Rondo. No one has been convicted of killing King Von.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported the wider incident left six people shot and two dead. The second man who died was Mark Blakely. Atlanta police officers also fired during the encounter, and that use of force was investigated separately.

The Los Angeles Shooting at the Centre of the Charges

The charged conduct happened on August 19, 2022. Prosecutors say a crew travelled to Los Angeles to find Quando Rondo, legal name Tyquian Bowman. They followed him through the city that day.

The shooting took place at a gas station near the Beverly Center. Roughly 18 rounds were fired at a vehicle. Rondo survived. His 24-year-old cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, known as Lul Pab, did not.

Durk was not at the scene. Nobody disputes that. The entire case turns on whether he directed it from a distance.

He was arrested in Broward County, Florida, on October 17, 2024. Five Only the Family associates were arrested with him. He has been in custody since, after multiple denied bond requests.

The Cooperating Witnesses and What They Are Trading

Three men who admit involvement have taken the stand. All three pleaded guilty. All three are cooperating with the government. That fact is the defense’s main weapon.

Witness	Status	Key claim on the stand	Defense attack
Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester	Pleaded guilty; cooperating	Says he was one of three masked gunmen. Testified Durk offered a cash reward that never came.	Brian Steel showed his account changed over time. Argued he is trading a story for a shorter sentence.
Kavon “OTF Vonni” Grant	Pleaded guilty; cooperating	Former assistant. Says he arranged flights, cars and guns. Told jurors the crew targeted Rondo “because Durk told us to.”	Drew Findling played a jail call in which Grant compared testifying to a job interview.
Keith “Flacka” Jones	Pleaded guilty; cooperating	Admits being one of the shooters. Testified he was never paid for his role.	Defense uses the missing payment to question the murder-for-hire framing.

Grant’s testimony was the most damaging. He told jurors he flew from Miami to Los Angeles on August 18, 2022. He said Durk had told him Rondo was in town. He described arranging vehicles and weapons as routine work at that point in his life.

He also described the operation as chaotic. In his words, they were moving sloppily, and it felt like a free-for-all. Hester used almost the same language. He testified that he did not feel good about it, and called it sloppy.

Jones testified he was never paid. He said he approached Durk after a United Center show asking for money. A promised $10,000 never arrived. That detail cuts both ways in a murder-for-hire case.

The Defense’s Counter-Story

Attorney Marissa Goldberg gave the defense opening. Her argument was direct. The plot was real, but Durk did not build it. Kavon Grant did.

The defense told jurors that Grant and Von were cousins and were extremely close. Goldberg said Grant managed Von’s money, lived with him and shared a bank account. She said Grant was present in Atlanta the night Von was shot.

Then came the line that has defined the trial’s coverage. The defense told jurors that a wounded Von asked Grant why he had let him get shot. That claim is a defense assertion. It has not been established as fact.

The point Goldberg was making is a motive of a different kind. If Grant carried personal guilt, he had his own reason for revenge. And if he needed a bigger name to trade, Durk was available.

On cross-examination, Drew Findling played a recorded jail call. Grant made it three days before signing his cooperation deal. On it, he compared his upcoming testimony to a job interview. He talked about dressing to impress and speaking to impress.

Steel found a separate problem. He showed that Hester and Grant appeared to communicate through third parties while in custody. Both men were subject to an order keeping them apart. Hester said nobody had explained what the order meant.

That does not prove collusion. It does give the defense room to argue their accounts were not developed independently.

Where the Trial Stands Now

The case entered its second full week on September 1. Grant finished direct testimony and faced two days of cross. The judge denied the defense request to expand the Akademiks footage.

Durk faces five counts. They include conspiracy, use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and a firearms count. A conviction on the murder-for-hire count carries the most severe exposure.

Wilson and co-defendant David Lindsey are being tried alongside him.

What to Watch Next

• Whether the government calls Jason Smith, whose messages anchored the King Von testimony.
• How much further the judge lets prosecutors go on alleged gang structure.
• Whether the defense calls witnesses, or rests on cross-examination alone.
• Whether Durk testifies. His lawyers have not signalled either way.

Frequently Asked Questions