The jury in Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire trial wrapped up its fifth day by watching an LAPD robbery and homicide detective scroll through Twitter results for “Slide for Von.”
The detective told the court that users consistently tagged Durk in those posts over a two-year period, which prosecutors are using to argue that the Chicago rapper had a personal motive rooted in grief and anger over King Von’s death.
The core accusation is that Durk ordered a hit on Quando Rondo as retaliation for Von’s 2020 killing. A 2022 shooting in Los Angeles injured Rondo and killed his cousin, Lul Pab, and that incident is now at the center of everything prosecutors are building their case around.
Durk has pleaded not guilty and his defense is pushing back hard on the framing. His lawyer, Brian Steel, told the court that OTF Vonni organized the shooting independently, and added a pointed detail: “This is a murder-for-hire allegation where nobody gets paid.” It’s a direct challenge to the prosecution’s narrative, not just a denial.
The state’s key witness, OTF Jam, has been telling a different story. He testified that Vonni was acting on Durk’s orders, which puts the alleged chain of command squarely on the rapper himself. Jam’s time on the stand has been one of the most contested stretches of the trial so far.
Steel’s cross-examination of Jam got uncomfortable fast. According to LA Mag reporter Taylor Parise, Steel questioned Jam about his relationships with the women in his life, including his mother, his wife, his sister, and the deceased mother of his child.
At one point, Steel accused Jam of being abusive toward his mother, a line of questioning clearly designed to chip away at his credibility with the jury.
There’s also been scrutiny around the timeline of events Jam described. Reporter Michael Blackshire noted that Jam made claims, stretching from 2023 to the present, about a music video shoot by Memo600 that allegedly disrupted a planned hit on Quando Rondo.
A number of people following the trial publicly questioned whether that timeline actually holds up, adding another layer of doubt around his account.
Proceedings are set to resume Monday, with more witnesses and evidence expected to come forward. The trial has grown more layered with each passing day, and the gap between what the prosecution and defense are presenting to the jury keeps widening rather than narrowing.
