LOS ANGELES, CA — Closing arguments are expected Tuesday in the trial of a Grammy-winning rapper and two others who are charged with stalking and killing a man in a bloody ambush near the Beverly Center in broad daylight four years ago.
Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, is accused of setting in motion a plan to kill Tyquian Bowman, a rival Atlanta rapper known as Quando Rondo. Prosecutors contend Banks paid for a hit team to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles in August 2022 with the intention of killing Bowman, but the plan went awry when their shots mistakenly killed 24-year-old Saviay'a Robinson, Bowman's cousin, who was seated in a black Escalade with the intended victim.
Banks, who won a Grammy in 2024 for the hit "All My Life," allegedly ordered, bankrolled and planned the intended murder as revenge after an associate of Bowman's killed a close friend of Banks', Dayvon "King Von" Bennett, in 2020 at an Atlanta nightclub, federal prosecutors said.
Banks' attorneys, however, maintain that the 33-year-old Chicago rapper wasn't involved in the planned hit. Instead, they told the jury, it was Banks' former personal assistant Kavon Grant, who flipped sides and testified for the government, who set up the intended murder of Bowman to impress his boss.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, stalking of Bowman using a dangerous weapon, stalking of Robinson resulting in death, and two counts involving murder-for-hire allegations. Banks may later face a second trial on federal racketeering charges.
Along with Grant, two other members of Banks' inner circle reached plea deals and testified for the government during the trial in Los Angeles federal court.
In opening statements last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Weiner said the case "is not about music -- it's about murder," adding that Banks had become "consumed with revenge" and was under pressure from his fans to avenge the killing of King Von, who was a popular up-and-coming rapper.
Prosecutors allege that Banks had indicated he would pay an unspecified bounty for the death of Bowman.
Banks' attorney Marissa Goldberg, however, planted the blame squarely on Grant, insisting that there was no financial trail or evidence that her client orchestrated and paid for the planned killing. Goldberg said Banks' ex- personal assistant was the real organizer, and told the jury that Grant used credit cards for the flight from Chicago, booked a rental car, and bought the weapons and masks used in the shooting.
"You'll realize there's no evidence" against Banks, Goldberg said. The well-known rapper, she said, "had nothing to do with it."
A 32-page superseding indictment filed in July named Banks as the lead defendant in the case that also charged five members and associates of the rapper's collective -- known as Only the Family, or OTF.
If convicted as charged, Banks could face life in federal prison, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says that around Aug. 18, 2022, the alleged conspirators learned that Bowman was staying at Level, a luxury hotel and apartment hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The next day, Banks' five friends flew from Chicago to San Diego, then drove to Los Angeles "for the purpose of murdering" Bowman, prosecutors contend.
Banks was living at the time with his family in a rented mansion in Encino, but was visiting Miami on the day of the shooting, his attorney said.
The OTF crew allegedly used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, stalk and attempt to murder Bowman at a gas station on Beverly Boulevard, according to court papers.
The shooters fired at least 18 rounds at Bowman's vehicle, striking and killing Robinson, prosecutors said.
Banks was arrested Oct. 17, 2024, near Miami International Airport as he attempted to flee the country, according to the FBI.
Since the release of his debut album in 2015, Banks has issued a total of eight solo studio albums, not including mixtapes or collaborative projects recorded with other artists. Banks was nominated for a Grammy on four occasions, winning the trophy for Best Melodic Rap Performance two years ago for "All My Life," which featured J. Cole.
By FRED SHUSTER
City News Service
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