Lil Durk walked out of a Los Angeles federal courtroom Friday a free man, cleared on all five counts in the murder-for-hire trial that had hung over him since 2022.

Jurors began deliberating Wednesday after closing arguments wrapped, and returned their verdict two days later. Not guilty across the board, including conspiracy to commit a violent crime, stalking with a dangerous weapon and the count tied directly to a death.

The case centered on a shooting outside the Beverly Center that killed Saviay'a Robinson, known as Lul Pab. Prosecutors said the real target was Atlanta rapper Quando Rondo, born Tyquian Bowman, and that eighteen shots were fired at his black Escalade before hitting Robinson instead. The government's theory, per TMZ, was that Durk ordered the hit as payback after an associate of Quando Rondo's was linked to the 2020 killing of Durk's close friend and collaborator King Von.

Durk's defense pushed back hard on that timeline. His lawyers argued it was actually a former assistant, Kavon Grant, who set the plot in motion on his own, allegedly hoping to impress his boss, according to TMZ's account of the trial. The jury, in the end, sided with that version, or at least found the government hadn't proven otherwise.

Durk was tried alongside two other people accused in the same shooting. What the verdict means for their cases isn't clear from what's been reported so far, and that's likely to be the next thread worth pulling as the dust settles.

The mood in the room had apparently shifted well before the verdict came down. Journalist Michael Blackshire, covering the trial, reported that Durk walked into court smiling on Thursday, traded warm words with his legal team, and spotted his mother in the gallery. His attorney Drew Findling reportedly complimented his tie. Small stuff, but the kind that reads differently once you know how the week ended.

Once the verdict hit, social media did what social media does. The Shade Room's comment sections filled up fast, and reactions rolled in from Drake, G Herbo and Ye, each acknowledging the outcome in their own way online. Fans on Twitter were less measured, with celebratory posts and no shortage of jokes about the rapper beating federal charges.

Durk, born Durk Devontay Banks, had been facing the real possibility of life behind bars had the jury gone the other way. Instead, four years after the shooting outside the Beverly Center, the case against him is over.

What isn't over is the fallout for everyone else named in the indictment, and whether Durk addresses the trial himself once the noise dies down. Neither has happened yet.