Has the jury reached a Lil Durk verdict? As of Wednesday, September 9, 2026, no verdict has been announced. The federal jury in Los Angeles began deliberating this morning after closing arguments wrapped up on Tuesday, September 8. Searches for “Lil Durk verdict” and “Lil Durk sentenced” are trending across the US as fans wait to learn whether the Chicago rapper will be convicted in his murder-for-hire trial and, if so, whether he will spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
Last updated: September 9, 2026. This page will be updated when the jury returns a verdict.
Current status: jury deliberations underway
Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, is on trial in the US District Court for the Central District of California before Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald. The trial began on August 20, 2026. Both sides rested last week, with the defense calling nine witnesses in a single day. Durk did not testify.
After closing arguments on September 8, the judge sent jurors home and told them to return Wednesday morning to select a foreperson and begin deliberations. There is no set timeline for a verdict. Federal juries can return in hours or take days, especially in a five-count case involving conspiracy law and three defendants.
Until the jury decides, Durk remains in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in downtown Los Angeles, where he has been held since his arrest in October 2024. Read our background on why Lil Durk is in prison and whether Lil Durk is out of jail.
What Lil Durk is charged with
Prosecutors allege Durk ordered members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to kill Georgia rapper Quando Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) as revenge for the November 2020 shooting death of King Von in Atlanta. On August 19, 2022, gunmen opened fire at a gas station near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. Rondo survived, but his cousin Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson, 25, was killed.
The jury is considering five counts against Durk and co-defendants Deandre “OTF DeDe” Wilson and David “Browneyez” Lindsey: conspiracy to commit stalking, stalking Bowman with a dangerous weapon, stalking resulting in Robinson’s death, conspiracy to use interstate facilities in a murder-for-hire resulting in death, and use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death. Durk has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Three former OTF associates, Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, Kayvon “OTF Vonnie” Grant and Keith “Flacka” Jones, took plea deals and testified for the government. A fourth defendant, Asa “Boogie” Houston, was severed from this trial.
What happened in closing arguments
Assistant US Attorney Ian Yanniello told jurors that Durk “had his shooters on speed dial” and used his money and influence to have Rondo stalked and killed. He walked through flights allegedly booked by Durk’s business partner on August 18, 2022, a stakeout of Rondo’s hotel that day, and surveillance and body-camera footage of the shooting. He pointed to text messages and a jail call he said showed Durk was pleased by the news of the killing.
Defense attorneys Brian Steel and Drew Findling focused on the credibility of the cooperating witnesses. Steel called Hester a “serial killer” who was offered a deal by the FBI to implicate Durk, and played a recording in which Grant said he would get “emotional on the stand.” Findling accused prosecutors of cherry-picking lyrics, interviews and social media posts, and argued the witnesses were trading Durk’s freedom for lighter sentences of their own.
A major legal dispute before closings involved the Pinkerton doctrine, which allows a conspirator to be held liable for crimes committed by co-conspirators if those crimes were foreseeable and within the scope of the agreement. Prosecutors argued Robinson’s death was a foreseeable result of a plot to kill Rondo. The defense argued that knowing about or associating with people involved in a crime is not enough for guilt. How the jury applies that instruction could decide the verdict.
What sentence Lil Durk faces if convicted
The murder-for-hire counts carry the harshest penalties. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1958, using interstate facilities in a murder-for-hire that results in death is punishable by life imprisonment or death. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in this case, so a conviction on those counts would mean a mandatory life sentence. The stalking counts under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A also carry up to life when death results.
If Durk is acquitted on all counts, he would be released from federal custody, though he still faces a separate racketeering case that was split from this trial and includes allegations tied to a Chicago killing. If he is convicted on some counts but not others, sentencing would follow months later after a pre-sentence report is prepared by US Probation.
A verdict is not the end of the process. Any conviction can be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the defense is likely to challenge the Pinkerton instruction and the use of lyrics as evidence.
How federal trials and prison work in the US
Durk’s case is federal, not state, because prosecutors charged crimes that crossed state lines: flights, phones and travel used to plan the attack. Federal cases are prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office and tried in US District Court. Before trial, defendants who are denied bail are held in Bureau of Prisons (BOP) detention centers such as MDC Los Angeles. You can check the status of any federal inmate with our guide to looking up prison records online.
Federal sentences are very different from state ones. There is no parole in the federal system. Inmates serving a term of years can earn up to 54 days of good conduct time per year, meaning they serve roughly 85 percent of the sentence. A life sentence has no release date at all: a person sentenced to federal life will die in custody unless a court overturns the conviction or the president grants clemency.
After sentencing, the BOP assigns inmates to a facility based on security level, sentence length and offense. A life sentence for a violent offense typically starts at a high-security US Penitentiary. For more on how federal custody works, see the US Prison Guide homepage.
Frequently asked questions
Has Lil Durk been found guilty?
No. As of September 9, 2026, the jury is still deliberating. No verdict has been returned on any of the five counts. This page will be updated when the jury reaches a decision.
How long will the Lil Durk jury take?
There is no way to know. Jurors began deliberating on the morning of September 9 and will meet daily until they reach a unanimous decision on each count or tell the judge they are deadlocked. Complex federal conspiracy cases often take several days.
Could Lil Durk get life in prison?
Yes. A conviction on the murder-for-hire resulting in death counts carries a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison, with no parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Where is Lil Durk right now?
He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, a federal pre-trial facility run by the Bureau of Prisons. He has been in custody since October 2024.
What happens if the jury cannot agree?
If the jury deadlocks, the judge may give an Allen charge urging them to keep trying. If they still cannot agree, the judge declares a mistrial on those counts and prosecutors can choose to retry the case. Durk would remain in custody in the meantime.