XXXTentaction Murder Trial, Week 6: Hopeful Signs for Defendants?

This morning, March 15, the jury weighing the destiny of the three males accused of murdering South Florida rapper XXXTentaction (actual title: Jahseh Onfroy) started its fifth day of deliberations. Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams, and Trayvon Newsome may spend the remainder of their lives in jail if jurors convict them of first-degree homicide and armed theft.

But every day that passes with no verdict brings slim hope to the defendants.

“Usually, the longer a jury takes to succeed in a verdict, the higher the chances for the protection,” Miami-based prison protection lawyer Rick Yabor tells New Times. “That’s the final rule of thumb.”

However, the jury might be taking its time meticulously going over each bit of proof to find out the extent of guilt for every of the defendants, provides Yabor, who shouldn’t be concerned within the XXXTentacion homicide case. “You do not know what the jury is debating about,” he says. “That’s why trials are so dangerous.”

It’s additionally potential that the jury will return totally different outcomes for every of the defendants, verdicts that might embrace convictions for second-degree homicide or manslaughter.

Over the course of 30 days, Broward County state prosecutors introduced a mountain of bodily proof, together with essential knowledge from two iPhones allegedly owned by Boatwright and Williams, that seems to corroborate the testimony of Robert Allen, a fourth member of the crew who pleaded responsible final summer time for his alleged function in XXXTentacion’s killing.

Allen, who took the stand in February because the prosecution’s star witness, instructed jurors about how he, Boatwright, Williams, and Newsome staked out XXXTentacion at Reva Motorsports in Deerfield Beach on June 18, 2018, with the intent to rob the 20-year-old rapper. The 4 males, driving in a Dodge Journey SUV, blocked off XXXTentacion’s BMW i8 sports activities automotive as he pulled out of Reva’s parking zone, Allen stated.

Williams was behind the wheel of the SUV, whereas Boatwright and Newsome had been the masked armed gunmen who confronted XXXTentacion, Allen testified. Boatwright shot XXXTentacion 3 times, whereas Newsome snatched a Louis Vuitton bag crammed with $50,000 in money from the Beemer’s passenger aspect, Allen recalled. XXXTentacion died after being transported to a close-by hospital.

Homicide detectives shortly zeroed in on Williams and Allen primarily based on Reva surveillance video footage that confirmed the pair inside the shop similtaneously XXXTentacion. Cameras outdoors Reva captured the SUV mendacity in wait in a parking zone throughout the road, the Dodge reducing off the BMW, the 2 robbers attacking XXXTentacion, and the getaway automotive dashing off after they stole the loot.

The prosecution additionally introduced jurors with knowledge mined from the aforementioned iPhones that positioned Boatwright and Williams at Reva the complete time XXXTentacion was there. The geolocation data on the gadgets additionally supported Allen’s testimony concerning the quartet’s whereabouts earlier than and after the robbery-homicide. And the telephones contained photographs and movies of the 4 males flashing hundreds of {dollars} in crisp $100 payments shortly after XXXTentacion was shot.

Tony Robinson and Tenell Carter — two ladies who had been near Williams — testified about what they knew concerning the 4 males’s actions main as much as the slaying. And murder investigators recovered unused bullets on the houses of Boatwright and Williams that match the slugs that had been faraway from XXXTentacion’s physique.

Defense legal professionals for Boatwright, Williams, and Newsome have argued that the proof fails to show past an affordable doubt that their purchasers participated within the robbery-homicide. Joseph Kimok and George Reres, the attorneys representing Boatwright and Newsome, respectively, instructed jurors in the course of the trial’s closing arguments that their purchasers weren’t even current at Reva when the robbery-homicide occurred. Williams’ lawyer, Mauricio Padilla, has acknowledged his shopper was at Reva on June 18, 2018, however argued that legislation enforcement did not pursue different individuals of curiosity and potential suspects, together with the Canadian rapper Drake, who allegedly had beef with XXXTentacion.

Earlier this week, jurors requested to overview the info salvaged from the 2 iPhones, in addition to a printout of the textual content messages Boatwright despatched and obtained on June 17 and 18, 2018.

The telephone knowledge is damning, but it surely’s not sufficient for a conviction, Yabor tells New Times. “It’s good proof that when taken along with all the opposite proof is sufficient for a conviction,” he says. “But you want that further proof as a result of the telephone knowledge may simply put somebody on the fallacious place on the fallacious time.”