Forty-eight hours after being sent footage of Quando Rondo’s emotional reaction to his cousin’s murder, Lil Durk quietly changed his phone number.
That detail, small on its surface, is exactly the kind of thing prosecutors are using to build their case that the Chicago rapper was not just grieving, but orchestrating.
Day two of Durk’s murder-for-hire trial in Los Angeles brought FBI agent Jarron Farmby to the stand, where he walked the courtroom through a string of private text conversations between Durk, real name Durk Banks, and his close associate Jason Smith.
The government’s argument is that those messages reveal a man who turned personal grief into a blueprint for retaliation.
The thread started on November 6, 2020, the night King Von, real name Dayvon Bennet, was shot and killed outside an Atlanta hookah lounge following a confrontation involving Georgia rapper Quando Rondo, real name Tyquian Bowman.
Durk texted Smith that he felt “dead inside,” and Smith responded, “You know I’m overprotective of you at all costs.” Hours later, Durk was already forwarding surveillance footage of the altercation to Smith.
What prosecutors want the jury to focus on is what came next. As videos mocking Von’s death circulated online, Durk’s tone shifted. After being sent a clip of a rapper dissing the late OTF member, Durk replied, “Just wait on the get back,” and followed it with, “When I pop on I’m on n***as ass.” He also wrote to Smith, “Him dying turning me into a different animal.”
The government then connected those messages to the August 2022 murder of Rondo’s cousin Lul Pab, real name Saviay’a Robinson. Smith sent Durk a news screenshot about the killing, along with a video of Rondo’s distressed reaction to Pab’s body near the Escalade he was shot in.
That video became a social media meme, mocked under the name the “Quando Rondo Challenge.” Durk did not respond to any of those messages, and changed his number two days later.
The defense is pushing back hard on the framing. Lawyer Brian Steel argued that the alleged gang ties being introduced are “well beyond” what should be admissible in this trial.
The lawyer representing co-defendant OTF Dede, real name Deandre Wilson, also challenged Farmby’s credentials as an expert witness, questioning whether his interpretations of the messages should carry the weight the prosecution is giving them.
Earlier in the day, the court was shown evidence of Pab’s death being taunted on Instagram, including Dede reacting to a video of Rondo grieving with laughing emojis. The comment he responded to read, “Where y’all pipe was at gang.” The defense has not disputed that the messages exist, but the argument over what they actually prove is very much alive.
Lul Timm, real name Timothy Leeks, was initially charged with Von’s killing, though that case was eventually dropped. Von’s death has remained a raw and heavily referenced point in Chicago rap circles ever since, and now it is sitting at the center of a federal courtroom.
The trial is ongoing, and prosecutors appear far from finished laying out their timeline.
