Last month, Broward Criminal Court Judge Michael Usan appointed Fort Lauderdale psychologist Dr. Blake McGrane to find out if Michael Boatwright is competent to face trial, courtroom information present. Facing fees of first-degree homicide and armed theft with a firearm, his subsequent courtroom listening to is about for at the moment, December 15, when McGrane’s findings are anticipated to be introduced.
Boatwright, a 27-year-old Fort Lauderdale native, allegedly teamed up with Dedrick Williams, Trayvon Newsome, and Robert Allen to rob XXXTentacion on the afternoon of June 18, 2018.
XXXTentacion (actual title Jahseh Onfroy) was gunned down in his BMW sports activities automotive as he exited the parking zone of Riva Motorsports in Deerfield Beach. Two black males carrying face masks and armed with weapons exited the passenger’s facet of a Dodge Journey blocking the BMW, in response to arrest affidavits and search warrants. After a quick battle, one among them shot the 20-year-old hip-hop artist and snatched the bag full of cash from contained in the BMW.
At the time of his dying, XXXTentacion was amongst a rising crop of “emo” rappers — hip-hop artists making darkish, brooding tracks and releasing them on the SoundCloud platform. His meteoric profession was stained by substantiated incidents of home violence that led to legal fees. Two weeks earlier than his homicide, Miami New Times printed a profile of the late rapper that delved into his troubled youth and likewise turned out to be his final public feedback concerning the violent assaults alleged by his then-pregnant ex-girlfriend, Geneva Ayala — brutal assaults that led to felony fees he did not dwell to reply for.
Boatwright’s mental-health analysis is the newest dramatic flip within the XXXTentacion homicide circumstances. In August, Allen pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide and armed theft with a firearm and can testify as witness in opposition to Boatwright, Newsome, and Williams, in response to a plea settlement. At his sentencing, which is about for February 23, 2023, Allen nonetheless faces the potential of life in jail.
The different three suspects have been scheduled for trial on January 9.
Over the previous month, New Times reviewed dozens of courtroom paperwork to compile an replace on the circumstances in opposition to the 4 males.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office and legal protection legal professionals for Allen, Boatwright, Newsome, and Williams declined to remark for this story.
The Stalkers
In the hours that adopted the lethal armed theft, murder investigators homed in on Williams and Allen. Surveillance video from inside Riva, a bike store, confirmed the pair strolling previous XXXTentacion minutes earlier than the ambush, and a retailer worker positively recognized Williams from a photograph lineup as a buyer who’d bought a black masks that afternoon, in response to an affidavit for a search warrant.
Two days after the homicide, authorities arrested Williams, a 26-year-old from Pompano Beach who was on probation for a grand theft cost on the time. During an interview with detectives, Williams initially denied he had gone to Riva. When advised of the shop’s surveillance recordings, he admitted he was with the three different suspects, figuring out solely Allen.
“Williams said that what had occurred at Riva Motorsports bothered him and when he went house he couldn’t sleep,” the affidavit states. “Williams said that he was frightened of being labeled a snitch when he went to jail.”
Williams mentioned he’d inform the reality about what occurred if he had a lawyer current, in response to the affidavit.
At that time, detectives stopped questioning him. A search of a Honda Accord Williams drove turned up a .22-caliber revolver. Inside his house, detectives discovered a .22-caliber spherical that matched bullet casings recovered on the crime scene, the affidavit states.
Williams was booked into Broward County jail on June 21, courtroom information present.
Allen, a 26-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident, was captured a couple of weeks later, on July 26, in Dodge County, Georgia, by a fugitive job pressure, in response to his arrest report.
The Alleged Shooters
Williams’ girlfriend, Tennell Williams, advised detectives that he’d admitted to being with the 2 suspects who shot XXXTentacion. Tennell mentioned her boyfriend recognized them as Boatwright and Newsome, however she refused to supply a recorded assertion, in response to the Williams affidavit.
On July 5, deputies from a Broward Sheriff’s Office road and gun crimes squad arrested Boatwright in Fort Lauderdale. After being learn his Miranda rights, Boatwright gave a recorded assertion during which he denied ever being at Riva or contained in the Dodge Journey.
After acquiring a search warrant, detectives discovered a number of images on his iPhone taken the night time of XXXTentacion’s homicide, the Boatwright affidavit states. The images depict him and Newsome holding “a considerable amount of $100 payments.” The digital path on his cellphone confirmed that his gadget was at Riva across the similar time because the lethal theft, in addition to Internet searches for “XXXTentacion” and “accent to homicide” days after the murder, the affidavit states.
Investigators additionally obtained warrants to look the house and two vehicles belonging to Boatwright’s grandmother, with whom the alleged killer lived. Inside the trunk of one of many automobiles, a 1997 Cadillac with no license plate, detectives discovered an AR-15 type rifle, ammunition that was the identical caliber because the casings discovered on the crime scene, and two dark-colored masks, one among which is “according to the masks Dedrick Williams bought simply earlier than the murder,” the affidavit states.
Newsome, a 24-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, was the final of the suspects to be taken into custody. He was arrested on August 7, 2018, courtroom information present.
Boatwright’s Mental Health
On October 24 of this 12 months, Joseph Kimok, Boatwright’s legal protection lawyer, filed a movement requesting that not less than two physicians consider his consumer’s psychological health to know the gravity of the legal fees in opposition to him and his means to successfully seek the advice of along with his counsel. Kimok claimed he noticed signs of psychological sickness in his consumer which can be inhibiting his means to help in his protection.
Dr. Michael Simonds, a psychologist who carried out a competency analysis at Kimok’s request, decided Boatwright was incompetent to proceed with the case, the movement states.
The movement additional notes that Boatwright has beforehand been dominated incompetent in different legal circumstances in opposition to him.
The most up-to-date concerned 2015 legal fees for possession of marijuana and the artificial drug flakka, courtroom information present. A 12 months later, Boatwright was declared incompetent to proceed with the case. He entered a pretrial diversion program and was required to obtain remedy for his psychological sickness and put on an ankle monitor for a 12 months.
The homicide cost was a violation of Boatwright’s launch.
Following a listening to on Kimok’s movement in November, Judge Usan agreed to usher in McGrane, whose follow has carried out evaluations in Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Orange County courts.