Lil Durk found not guilty on all counts in federal murder-for-hire trial

A federal jury in Los Angeles found the recording artist Durk Banks, known as Lil Durk, not guilty on all five counts in his murder-for-hire trial on September 11, 2026. The verdict followed three days of deliberation and came after closing arguments on September 8.

The five counts were conspiracy to commit murder for hire, use of interstate facilities to commit murder for hire resulting in death, conspiracy to commit interstate stalking, interstate stalking involving a dangerous weapon, and interstate stalking resulting in death. A conviction on the murder-for-hire counts carried a maximum of life in prison.

The charges arose from an August 2022 shooting near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. Prosecutors alleged that Banks arranged an attack on a rival artist as retaliation for a 2020 killing in Atlanta, and that the shooting killed a 24 year old passenger in the vehicle rather than the intended target.

The defense, led by Drew Findling and Brian Steel, argued that the government's case rested on cooperating witnesses who stood to gain from their testimony, and that a former personal assistant to Banks had arranged the attack himself. The assistant had entered a plea agreement and testified for the prosecution. Banks did not take the stand, and the rival artist was not called as a witness.

Two co-defendants in the case were convicted of stalking and conspiracy to commit stalking, and acquitted of the murder-for-hire charges.

During deliberations the court denied an emergency defense request concerning a 2023 interview clip that the defense argued had been misleadingly edited. The court's ruling rested on timing, since the disputed characterization came during closing arguments, which are not evidence.

A separate federal racketeering case against Banks remained pending at the time of the verdict.