Defense lawyer Brian Steel wasted little time Friday resuming his withering cross-examination of Kasey “OTF Jam” Hester on the fifth day of rapper Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire trial in Los Angeles. In the jail call from May 2023 played in court Friday, Hester was heard telling his wife to “trust” him. He had just been arrested riding in a car with a gun while on parole after serving 12 years on an attempted murder conviction.
While in custody, he slipped a note to a guard that read, “I know about murders. I don’t want to talk on camera. I know a lot.” Jurors saw the note in court during the start of Hester’s testimony and learned that by May 18, 2023, Hester had signed the cooperation agreement with federal officials that landed him on the witness stand in Los Angeles.
Under questioning by prosecutors, Hester testified that Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, placed a bounty on rival rapper Quando Rondo‘s head after a 2020 confrontation in Atlanta that ended with the fatal shooting of Durk’s close friend and musical protégé King Von. Hester said that after his release from prison, he began spending time with Durk and members of his Only The Family collective. He eventually received a call from an associate telling him to board a flight without even packing a bag.
Hester said he could hear Banks’ voice in the background of another call with the associate. He testified that he ended up in Southern California with a group of men tasked with finding and killing Quando Rondo. Hester acknowledged that he was one of three gunmen who opened fire on Quando Rondo’s vehicle at a gas station near the Beverly Center, killing Quando Rondo’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, known as Lul Pab.
Quando Rondo, born Tyquian Bowman, survived. Hester testified Thursday that he wanted to back out but believed doing so could get him killed. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century “You don’t get in the way of somebody killing somebody.
Like, that is not what we do. Like, where I’m from it is not what you do. That will get you killed,” he told jurors.
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