Federal prosecutors are asking that an anonymous jury be used in the downtown Los Angeles murder-for-hire trial of rapper Lil Durk to prevent attempts to intimidate and/or influence jurors — an argument precipitated by an illicit photo that was taken during a recent court hearing and posted on social media.
The Chicago rapper and five of his associates are facing trial next year on charges that the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist, whose legal name is Durk Banks, offered a cash reward for the murder of a rival.
During a pretrial hearing Tuesday, somebody in the audience apparently snapped a photo of a defense lawyer and two of the defendants — but not Banks. The picture was posted on at least three websites — Reddit, Instagram and Facebook, according to papers filed this week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Use of cameras in federal courtrooms is prohibited, the court’s website states, and violators are subject to penalties.
The government previously filed a motion arguing that an anonymous jury was necessary at trial because of “the significant risk of interference with witnesses and the judicial process” due to the “extensive and continuous national publicity” in the case.
Prosecutors wrote in the new filing in Los Angeles federal court that the “blatant violation of the federal rules, and the following widespread dissemination of the photograph, underscores that an anonymous jury is only one of the security measures this court should employ to prevent improper attempts to intimidate and/or influence jurors, ensure a fair trial for all parties, and protect the judicial process.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined comment. Banks’ lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Banks pleaded not guilty last year to charges of conspiracy, use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.
If convicted of all counts, he faces the possibility of a mandatory life term in federal prison, according to court papers.
The 33-year-old rapper was arrested Oct. 17, 2024, near Miami International Airport after law enforcement learned that he had been booked on multiple international flights, including at least one destined to a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the United States, court papers show.
The updated indictment names Banks as the lead defendant in the case that also charges five alleged members and associates of his rap collective — known as Only the Family, or OTF.
Banks is accused of putting a bounty on the life of Tyquian Bowman, an Atlanta rapper known as Quando Rondo. The alleged hit team of OTF members traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles to kill Bowman, but a botched ambush near the Beverly Center shopping mall resulted in the death of one of Bowman’s relatives who was traveling with him, according to prosecutors.
Banks allegedly put the bounty on Bowman after an associate of Bowman’s killed a close friend of Banks two years earlier at a nightclub in Atlanta.
Around Aug. 18, 2022, the alleged conspirators learned that Bowman was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, Banks’ five friends traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles “for the purpose of murdering” Bowman, federal prosecutors allege.
Members and associates of OTF allegedly used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, stalk and attempt to murder Bowman at a gas station, according to court papers.
The co-conspirators fired at least 18 rounds at Bowman’s vehicle, striking and killing one of Bowman’s family members who was traveling with the intended target, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges.
The 19-page superseding indictment charges Banks and five others — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston — with crimes arising from the killing, including murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death.
Bowman was present during the 2022 shooting that killed his cousin, known as Lul Pab, court papers show.