Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams, and Trayvon Newsome are charged with first diploma homicide and armed theft with a firearm within the 2018 killing of Jahseh Onfroy — higher referred to as XXXTentacion. The fourth suspect, Robert Allen, pleaded responsible in August to second diploma homicide and armed theft with a firearm, and is anticipated to testify in opposition to his alleged cohorts.
On June 18, 2018, Onfroy and a buddy had been leaving the parking zone of Riva Motorsports in Deerfield Beach when a Dodge Journey SUV pulled in entrance of the rapper’s BMW sports activities automobile. Prosecutors say Boatwright and Newsome emerged with handguns and tried to rob Onfroy. Boatwright gunned the rapper down, and the duo grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag with $50,000 money earlier than getting again into the SUV and driving away, prosecutors declare.
Just earlier than his dying, the 20-year-old rap star from Plantation had secured a $10 million deal for a 3rd studio album. Onfroy, recognized for his distinctive fashion of rap blended with punk and rock, made a fast rise within the hip hop scene through the music-streaming platform SoundCloud and wild free performances. His legacy was difficult by allegations of vicious home abuse in opposition to his girlfriend.
According to the arrest affidavit, detectives from the Broward Sheriff’s Office linked the defendants to Onfroy’s homicide by reviewing the motorsports retailer’s surveillance cameras, which caught the Dodge SUV arriving within the parking zone two minutes after the rapper parked and entered the shop. Investigators say two males from the SUV went into the shop, one in every of whom walked previous Onfroy to buy a black neoprene masks. The pair returned to the Dodge SUV earlier than they surrounded Onfroy exterior the store roughly 10 minutes later, police declare.
The detectives say two retailer staff acknowledged one of many suspects as a repeat buyer although they didn’t bear in mind his identify. The staff had been then proven a photograph lineup through which they each recognized Williams as the person they’d seen within the retailer on the day of the murder. Williams’ social media profiles led the investigators to Allen, who was recognized as the opposite suspect inside the shop.
GPS knowledge from Williams’ and Boatwright’s cellphones positioned the 2 males on the retailer across the time of Onfroy’s homicide, in accordance with the affidavit. A search of a 1997 Cadillac belonging to Boatwright’s grandmother, with whom he was dwelling, revealed “two darkish coloured masks, one in every of which was per the masks Williams bought simply earlier than the murder,” together with .22 caliber ammunition from the identical producer because the casings discovered on the crime scene, the affidavit states.
Boatwright’s fingerprints had been additionally discovered on the outside of the getaway automobile, detectives say.
Boatwright’s lawyer Joseph Kimok final month filed a movement for his shopper’s case to be fielded individually in courtroom, claiming Boatwright would “be unduly prejudiced by being tried in the identical case with the co-defendants.”
“When there’s substantial threat that the jury, regardless of directions on the contrary, will look to incriminating extrajudicial statements of a co-defendant in figuring out a defendant’s guilt, admission of the co-defendant’s confession in a joint trial violates the defendant’s proper of cross examination,” the movement reads.
Judge Michael Usan struck down the movement on January 9, paving the best way for jury choice to start on January 18.
Kimok had filed an earlier movement to declare Boatwright incompetent to face trial. However, after a court-ordered psychological analysis, Usan dominated Boatwright was mentally match to face the costs.
George Reres, lawyer for Newsome, beforehand mounted an unsuccessful try to carry separate trials, on the grounds that the proof in opposition to his shopper differed “considerably from the proof” in opposition to the others. To no avail, Reres cited the cellphone knowledge putting Boatwright and Williams on the scene.
In an try to lift potentialities about different potential suspects, the defendants’ attorneys argued in courtroom final week that Canadian rapper Drake ought to be deposed over an alleged feud he had with Onfroy previous to his dying. The choose rejected the request and moved the case in the direction of trial.
Despite pleading responsible to lesser costs, Allen faces the potential for a life sentence at his sentencing listening to on February 23.