Admitted Shooter Grilled on Cross
Rolling Stone • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Brian Steel, defense lawyer for rapper Lil Durk, aggressively cross-examined cooperating witness Kasey “OTF Jam” Hester, who admitted involvement in a 2022 shooting linked to a murder-for-hire plot targeting rival rapper Quando Rondo.
- Hester testified that Lil Durk placed a bounty on Quando Rondo after a 2020 confrontation, leading Hester and others to open fire on Rondo’s vehicle, killing Rondo’s cousin but not Rondo himself.
- During cross-examination, Hester’s inconsistent statements to federal investigators were highlighted, including initial denials of knowledge about the bounty and later admissions of its existence and amount.
- The prosecution’s case relies heavily on cooperating witnesses, including Hester and two others who pleaded guilty and are testifying about the planning and execution of the shooting.
- Lil Durk’s defense argues Hester became a cooperator out of desperation to avoid prison time and that there is no evidence Durk paid anyone for the shooting, framing the murder-for-hire allegation as unproven.
