Three men who killed a US rapper during a $50,000-dollar robbery outside a Florida motorcycle shop were jailed for life for first-degree murder yesterday.
Michael Boatwright, 28, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, were convicted of the 2018 murder of 20-year-old XXXTentacion last month by a jury following eight days of deliberations. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
The defendants showed little emotion as Broward County circuit judge Michael Usan imposed the sentences. Judge Usan had warned that anyone who caused any kind of disruption would be held in contempt of court.
During the month-long trial, prosecutors linked Boatwright, Williams and Newsome to the shooting outside Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale through surveillance video taken inside and outside the store, plus mobile phone videos the men took showing themselves flashing fistfuls of 100 dollar notes hours after the killing.
Prosecutors also had the evidence of a fourth man, Robert Allen, a former friend of the defendants who said he participated in the robbery. He pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder but is yet to be sentenced.
His sentence could be as little as time served – meaning he could soon be released – or as long as life, depending partly on how much weight prosecutors give to his assistance.
Defence lawyers accused Allen of lying to avoid a long jail term. They also accused detectives of doing a poor job and failing to look at other possible suspects, including the Canadian rap star Drake, who had a feud with XXXTentacion online.
XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, had just left Riva Motorsports with a friend when an SUV cut in front of him and blocked his BMW. Surveillance video showed two masked gunmen confronting the singer at the driver’s window, and one of them shooting him repeatedly.
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They then grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag containing cash that XXXTentacion had just withdrawn from the bank, got back into the SUV and sped away. Boatwright was identified as the primary gunman and Newsome the other one. Williams was accused of driving the SUV and Allen of being inside the vehicle.
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