Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire trial has introduced its first witness tied directly to the star rapper: Kacey Jerome Hester, formerly OTF Jam, who was once part of Durk’s OTF crew.
On Wednesday (August 26), a weary and nervous Hester, who spoke so quietly that he was asked several times to raise his voice, gave detailed testimony about the inner workings of OTF, which prosecutors call a “gang enterprise.”
Most notably, Hester testified that Lil Durk orchestrated an August 2022 shooting intended to target his rap rival Quando Rondo. That shooting, which took place in Los Angeles, instead claimed the life of Rondo’s cousin, Lul Pab, real name Saviay'a Robinson.
In the third day of the murder-for-hire trial, Hester, 34, took the stand in the afternoon after being escorted by several U.S. Marshalls. While Durk’s codefendant OTF Dede, real name Deandre Wilson, focused intently on Hester, Durk briefly looked at the witness but mainly kept his focus on monitors in front of him. Hester, alongside Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston, were identified by authorities as those involved in the 2022 shooting, which occurred at a Mobil gas station in Beverly Boulevard.
On the stand, Hester identified himself from surveillance photos of the scene, pointing out his red and white Prada shoes worn during the incident. He also called out his membership in the 300 Lamron faction of street gang Black Disciples, saying he was “blessed in” at 9 years old. While breaking down the three laws of the gang, which included the willingness to sacrifice life for “Nation’s causes” and abiding by leadership commands, Hester explained reasons for gang retaliation.
“You don’t want to be looked at as no weak block,” he said. “People gonna prey on that.”
Hester went on to recount meeting Durk in 2007, when the rapper would have been roughly 15 years old, and knowing that the future Grammy winner became a Black Disciple after returning home from his first prison bid. The witness also identified notable Chicago gang signs like “dropping the rakes,” intended to diss a rival gang, the Gangster Disciples.
The friendship between Durk and Hester grew in 2012 while the latter was serving time, with the Chicago rapper giving $1,000 to Hester’s attorney, and regularly putting money on his books. The witness was also shouted out on songs like “Times” and King Von’s “Back Again.”
“People forget about you [in prison],” Hester recounted. “I ain’t gon’ lie, Durk didn’t do that.”
While testifying, Hester repeatedly switched between calling Durk “Blood” and his birth name, eventually detailing that the rapper was disappointed that people weren’t “sliding” for the late King Von. Von was slain outside a hookah lounge in Atlanta by Lul Timm, real name Timothy Leeks, during an altercation with Rondo in November 2020.
“He didn’t like that people were trolling him,” Hester recalled of Durk’s response to Von’s murder. “It was getting to him.”
Hester testified about a conversation about plotting to murder Rondo that he said took place in an Atlanta studio.
“If motherfuckers catch Quando Rondo or Lul Timm, they gon’ be straight. They ain’t gotta worry about nothing,” Durk said, according to Hester.
The witness ultimately alleged that he was called by OTF Boonie Moe on the morning of August 18, when he would fly to San Diego with OTF Boogie, real name Asa Houston. Durk was allegedly on another phone with Boonie at the time, but spoke to Hester directly.
“You could tell there was something going on but he wasn’t giving it to me,” Hester said.
When Hester tried to call Durk directly, he testified, the rapper refused to pick up, because the rapper didn’t want anyone who was traveling to L.A. to call him. Another individual, William Malcolm, initially agreed to go but couldn’t find his I.D. in time for the flight. The flights were arranged by Durk’s business associate, Jason Smith.
By the time Hester and Houston arrived to San Diego, the two were allegedly notified about reason for the trip — to kill Quando Rondo.
“I’m just like, ‘Damn, I’m here now,’” said Hester. “I [don’t] have no way to get out of this.”
Hester recalled his concerns, saying that he and Von hadn’t been close enough for the rift with Rondo to be personal.
Upon everyone’s arrivals, Hester said that the group rode via sprinter to a Wal-Mart for hoodies and gloves that would be used during the shooting. The suspects were then taken to a car lot, purportedly VEM Exotics, where Durk’s former assistant, OTF Vonnie, real name Kavon Grant, gave them “bad news:” he only had three guns.
The men later sat outside Rondo’s location that evening, Level Hotel, each in a BMV and Infiniti. Hester said that rapper Doodie Lo arranged for a dispensary worker to tell Rondo that a delivery was coming, and when the Georgia rapper stepped outside, the group planned to shoot him. Police cars, however, were riding past, making the scene too “hot.”
Hester claimed that Wilson was holding a Beretta pistol while in the driver’s seat of the BMV.
“Boy, they easy,” Hester remembered Wilson saying. “I could really fuck them up right now.”
If convicted on all charges, including conspiracy and possession of firearms, Durk faces life in prison. Hester’s testimony continues on Thursday, while Grant and Houston are also expected to take the stand.
