Prosecutor: The accused killers of XXXTentacion went to rob

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Jury to determine if three men are guilty deadly shots from Rap star XXXTentacion Outside a motorcycle shop in Florida in 2018, widely differing stories were heard during Tuesday’s opening remarks — a robbery gone wrong or detectives catching the wrong men for failing to investigate other suspects, including the rapper Drake .

For prosecutor Pascale Achille, the case is uncomplicated. She told jurors that defendants Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome and Dedrick Williams, and a fourth man who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, Robert Allen, left on June 18, 2018 to commit armed robbery and to Riva Motorsports in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale went to buy masks.

There they came across XXXTentacion, who was there with a friend to buy a motorcycle. They recognized him and took the opportunity to rob him as he was leaving, she said. Williams clipped the rapper’s BMW sports car with his SUV, Achille said, and Boatwright and Newsome jumped out with guns to rob him. A fight ensued, they got the $50,000 that XXXTentacion had in a designer bag, and then Boatwright fired multiple times “without provocation,” she said.

To varying degrees, they are linked to the shooting through surveillance video and cellphone locations, and all are implicated by Allen’s awaited testimony, Achille said. Then there are the social media photos of some of the men showing the money posted that night, she said.

“They go on social media and brag about having this cash inflow,” Achille said. “They show it like it’s Christmas.”

For the men’s lawyers, the accused are victims of Robert Allen’s lies and detective failure to investigate XXXTentacion’s feud with Canadian rapper Drake – XXXTentacion once said on social media that Drake would be the cause if he was ever dead were. He later recanted that. Another rapper had also made threats against XXXTentacion.

They said that with the rapper’s killing just four months after the killing of 17 people at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Broward Sheriff’s Office was under extreme political pressure to solve the case quickly.

“This has been a nightmare for Broward County and everyone involved,” said Mauricio Padilla, Williams’ attorney.

That’s why they wanted nothing to do with investigations into a celebrity, he said.

Prosecutors say there is no evidence linking Drake to the shooting and Williams is clearly visible in the store’s surveillance video, identifiable by his prominent facial tattoos. He was also identified by one of the employees. Padilla acknowledged Williams was present at the store but didn’t say how he would explain it.

Joseph Kimok, Boatwright’s attorney, also pointed the finger at a third man as a possible shooter – a friend of Williams’s was seen speaking to the motorcycle shop shortly before the shooting, who has the same build as his client. He hinted that the friend might have gotten into the car Williams was driving out of sight of surveillance cameras. He said the evidence would show Boatwright was sleeping in the house he shared with his grandmother at the time of the shooting.

“At no point (in the surveillance footage) will you see Mr. Boatwright because he wasn’t there,” Kimok said.

Yes, a cell phone linked to him was near the store – but that was a shared phone used by several men, he said. And yes, he “posed very stupidly with money” that night — but that money was Allen’s, not Boatwright’s, Kimok said.

Boatwright, 28, Williams, 26, and Newsome, 24, would all receive life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder. They are also charged with armed robbery.

Allen, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year.

The victim, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, pronounced his stage name “ex-ex-ex-ten-ta-see-YAWN.” He was a platinum-selling rising star whose songs explored themes of prejudice and depression. He also drew criticism for bad behavior and multiple arrests, including charges that he severely beat and abused his girlfriend.