Defense attorneys will not call Canadian rapper Drake to testify in the South Florida murder trial of the suspects in the 2018 killing of fellow rapper XXXTentacion.
On Friday, February 24th, a Broward County Judge ruled that rapper Drake, born Ashley Graham, will not be deposed by defense attorneys in the XXXTentacion murder trial due to a lack of evidence of his involvement in the 2018 killing of fellow rapper.
The decision comes several days after a defense attorney claimed armed guards refused process servers at the rapper’s Beverly Hills mansion last week. Drake’s lawyer, Bradford Cohen, had asked the court on Monday to vacate an order requiring Drake to appear for a deposition.
The deposition was requested by Mauricio Padilla, a defense attorney for Dedrick Williams (one of the three suspects in the case), who claimed Graham (Drake) was involved in the death of XXXTentacion (real name Jahseh Onfroy). Padilla declined to comment following the decision on Friday.
NOTE: Drake had previously been expected to attend a virtual deposition on Friday, according to Broward County court records released earlier this month, but defense attorneys said he’d refused to be served with a subpoena.
Drake was among a group of hip-hop stars who were listed as potential defense witnesses for the fatal shooting of XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, on June 18, 2018.
An attorney for Dedrick Williams, one of the defendants accused in the killing of XXXTentacion, had tried to get Drake to appear at a deposition pre-trial, something the “Nice for What” rapper avoided. Defense attorney Mauricio Padilla cited an Instagram post from XXXTentacion in which he claimed, “If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi [Drake]. I’m snitching RN.” However, the post was quickly deleted and XXXTentacion later retracted that, claiming his account had been hacked.
Attorneys for Drake had argued he had nothing to do with the case and shouldn’t be deposed.
“At this point, I think you have a corroborating witness who corroborates that Mr. Graham has nothing to do with this case,” Brad Cohen, one of Drake’s attorneys, said in court earlier this month. “Mr. Graham is not listed in any report, Mr. Graham, I don’t believe, has been discussed whatsoever in this case to my knowledge other than rumor and innuendo.”
XXXTentacion was inside his BMW sports car, which had been blocked by an SUV as he pulled out of the Riva Motorsports’ parking lot near Fort Lauderdale when he was shot and killed during what authorities said was a robbery.
Michael Boatwright, 28, is accused of being the shooter, while his friend, Trayon Newsome, 24, is accused of being the other gunman. Williams, 26, is accused of being the driver.
They could all receive life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder. A fourth man, who prosecutors say was in the SUV, 26-year-old Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and testified against the other three suspects.
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