The feds want jurors to have a wider path to convict Lil Durk in the death of Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson, though Quando Rondo was the claimed target.
In a new filing Sunday (September 6), the feds asked Judge Michael Fitzgerald to keep a key shared-blame rule in the case.
That rule could hold one member of a plot responsible for a crime committed by another member of the same group.
The issue is not whether Lil Durk fired a gun, since the feds have never said he was there; instead, the fight is about the plan’s reach and whether it covers the stalking charge tied to Lul Pab’s death.
Join Us
AllHipHop’s Daily News Service
Delivering news to inboxes since 1999. We break it. They take it. Get it first, straight from AllHipHop.
If jurors find that Lil Durk joined a plot aimed at Tyquian “Quando Rondo” Bowman, the feds say they may blame him for Lul Pab’s death.
The rule is named for Pinkerton, a 1946 Supreme Court case that still shapes how jurors weigh crimes done by members of a group. A person who joins a crime plot may be blamed for another act that helps the plot and falls within its scope.
The group must also be able to expect the act; a new crime with no clear tie would not fit.
Lil Durk’s lawyers want that rule left out of Count Three, which deals with the stalking of Lul Pab and conduct that led to his death.
The defense says Count One, the claimed plot to stalk Quando Rondo, should not lead to a guilty verdict on Count Three.
The feds disagree and wrote that jurors could see Lul Pab’s death as “a necessary or natural consequence” of the plan.
They described that plan in direct terms, saying its goal was to “track, stalk, and kill Tyquian Bowman.”
Those words capture the heart of the case: Quando Rondo was the target, but the risk extended to those near him.
Lul Pab was riding with Quando Rondo on August 19, 2022, when gunmen opened fire near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles; Quando Rondo lived, but his 24-year-old cousin was killed.
The new filing calls Lul Pab Quando Rondo’s “travel companion” and says his place near the target put his death within the plot’s reach.
“A reasonable juror could well conclude” that the result flowed from the plan, the feds wrote in their three-page reply.
That claim does not prove the charge, nor does it mean the judge has found that Lul Pab’s death was an expected result.
The filing concerns the legal map jurors may use, while the panel must still decide the facts and find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Both sides rested on Thursday, and the judge plans to finish the jury instructions before closing statements begin on Tuesday (September 8).
The jury could start its talks Wednesday, which makes Saturday’s filing one of the last fights before the case reaches the panel.
The feds say the Los Angeles attack was revenge for Dayvon “King Von” Bennett, who died in a 2020 clash with Quando Rondo’s group.
They claim Lil Durk then put a price on Quando Rondo’s life, gave the order and paid costs tied to the trip. Lil Durk denies backing or joining the plot, and his lawyers say the feds’ main witnesses cannot be trusted.
Three men who took plea deals gave much of the proof used to link Lil Durk to the plan.
Kavon “OTF Vonni” Grant said he arranged flights, cars, guns, masks and hotel rooms at Lil Durk’s direction before the attack.
Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester and Keith “Flacka” Jones also told jurors about an alleged cash reward for killing Quando Rondo. All three men hope their help will lead to less time in prison, a point the defense used to test their stories and motives.
Lil Durk’s lawyers say OTF Vonni ran the plan and blamed his old boss to avoid a life term.
OTF Vonni also admitted he held Lil Durk’s wallet, knew his PINs and bank login details and had access to his Social Security number.
Those facts let the defense argue that a card bearing Lil Durk’s name may show how a bill was paid, but not who used it.
As AllHipHop has reported, the judge drew a firm line between travel costs and proof of a cash reward for murder.
Plane tickets, hotel rooms and other bills may back the feds’ timeline, but those records alone do not prove who gave the order.
The Pinkerton fight asks what comes next if jurors find that Lil Durk joined the stalking plot.
The feds want that finding to support Count Three because Lul Pab’s death could be seen as a known risk of hunting Quando Rondo.
Lil Durk’s team says Pinkerton should not be applied to a crime that requires its own clear aim, but the new filing says current law rejects that view.
The new filing also gives Lil Durk’s team one small win on Count Five, since the defense wants the Pinkerton path tied to Count Four, the murder-for-hire plot, rather than to Count One, the stalking plot.
Lil Durk faces five charges: conspiracy to commit stalking; stalking Quando Rondo with a dangerous weapon; stalking Lul Pab resulting in death; murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death; and the use of interstate services in a murder-for-hire resulting in death.
The judge’s ruling will not decide the verdict, but it may set how many paths jurors can take when they start work this week.
