The cross-examination of Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester had a tense start in the murder-for-hire trial of rapper Lil Durk.
On Thursday (August 27), the 34-year-old Black Disciples member and former friend of Durk was questioned by Brian Steel. The attorney, who’s one of four members on Durk’s legal counsel, called it “a lie” that Hester’s family was financially dependent on him since he was a child. Hester testified on Wednesday that he was “blessed in” as a Black Disciple member at 9 years old and first shot a gun three years later. The witness also claimed that his parents, who struggled with substance abuse, relied on him for support, as he was their youngest child.
After Steel repeatedly accused Hester of being untruthful and even claiming that the witness took a deal to be released in eighteen months, Hester defensively responded before explaining his reason for taking the stand.
“I’m not banking or hoping that Durk gets life,” he said. “I’m just telling my side of the story.”
Elsewhere in the testimony, Steel claimed that Hester didn’t “self-surrender” for the August 2022 murder of Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson, the cousin of rapper Quando Rondo.
The shooting, intended to target Rondo, occurred in retaliation of OTF member King Von being slain two years before in Atlanta. Hester was arrested in May 2023 for being in a car with a gun, which led to his cooperation with police in Durk’s case.
“You come here and get right to killing,” Steel said in reference to the 2022 incident that involved five other suspects. “If you look at your to-do list that day, it was to murder.”
Hester shared his frustration with being allegedly recruited for the shooting under Durk’s command after serving a 12-year sentence. The witness had been released on February 28, 2022.
“I just did all that time in jail. Why call me?” he said.
When the witness said he participated in the shooting to “get it over with,” the statement garnered a prickly reaction from Steel, who called Hester “divorced from reality” and lacking in “humanity.”
Later in the testimony, a May 2023 recording of Hester and federal officers revealed that said he and Durk hadn’t spoken about retaliation against Rondo or Lul Timm, who fatally shot Von. The remarks appeared to contradict Hester’s previous testimony that Durk put a bounty on Rondo during a recording session in Atlanta.
In his earlier testimony, Hester recounted feeling trapped in Los Angeles after allegedly being sent there along with Asa “Boogie” Houston, Kavon “OTF Vonnie” Grant, Deandre "OTF DeDe" Wilson, David "Browneyez" Lindsey and Keith “Flacka” Jones. Hester claimed he tried to back out of the shooting by texting DeDe that Jones and Lindsey were “jittery,” although he said his message was ignored. The witness thought that Durk would call off the shooting if notified by DeDe, as the two had a stronger bond.
After the shooting, which happened at a Mobil gas station on Beverly Boulevard, the suspects ate at an In-N-Out before departing for return flights to Chicago.
“I just know I wanted to get out of L.A.,” Hester recalled. “I just committed a crime with these clothes on.”
Hester added that he was “mad” at the alleged recruitment among other people he didn’t know, although he acknowledged that Durk took care of him financially during and after his incarceration.
“I didn’t know dude that got shot. I ain’t have beef with him. He was an innocent person to me,” the witness said.
The trial is expected to last for several weeks. If found guilty on all charges, including conspiracy, Durk faces a life sentence.
