Written by Ken McQueary
Photo Courtesy of Drake's Media Team
FLORIDA- The murder trial of South Florida native Jahsey Onfroy, also known as rapper XXXTentacion, finally began after he was murdered more than four years ago in 2018. His murder trial is taking place in Broward County on Tuesday February 7, 2023 at the Broward County CourtHouse.
The three defendants, Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams and Trayvon Newsome pleaded not guilty, and Robert Allen pleaded guilty along with taking a plea deal. Famous rapper Aubrey Graham also known as Drake, has been ordered to appear for deposition in XXXTentacion’s murder trial via zoom.
Defense attorney Mauricio Padilla believes Drake is connected to the murder and tried to subpoena him last month, however in a court document it showed that Drake failed to appear to the deposition date on January 27. Padilla had been trying to subpoena him since December and claimed the rapper was avoiding the scheduled deposition. It is said that if he fails to appear again then he could be held in contempt.
The beef between both rappers started in 2017 when XXX accused Drake of stealing his flow from the hit song “Look at Me!” and using it in his song “KMT.” About a year later, XXX posted a story to his instagram saying “If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi [Drake]. I'm snitching rn.”
He then later deleted the post and claimed that his account had been hacked. Four months after the beef between the two rappers, XXX was killed in Deerfield Beach, Florida. He was leaving Riva Motorsports, pulling out of the exit, where he was then ambushed, robbed at gunpoint and then killed. As of right now, there is no evidence connecting Drake to the murder of Jahseh Onfroy.
Over the weekend, Drake’s attorney, Brad Cohen, filed a motion asking the judge to quash an order that requires his client to appear for a deposition. On Monday the 13th, Cohen was in court arguing that Drake should not be forced to appear for the deposition. He stated “At this point you have a cooperating witness that corroborates that Mr. Graham has nothing to do with this case.
Mr. Graham is not listed in any report. Mr. Graham I don’t believe has been discussed whatsoever in this case to my knowledge other than rumor and innuendo.” The judge brought up the point that Mr. Graham was subpoenaed and denied it, which makes the court wonder why he did not show. The judge basically advised that the defense attorneys, Mr. Graham and his attorney should work together to set up a deposition to establish his involvement or if he was not involved.
Padilla then argued that the detectives never investigated or questioned Drake ‘because it didn’t comport with their version and their narrative.” He prompted the Instagram post and online beef questioning why law enforcement never investigated or questioned Drake.
Neama Rachmaninov said that the judge does not have a choice in whether or not to allow this theory “even though there’s no basis in fact,” but the theory has to play out in court. Mr. Graham’s attorney made the point that he should not have to appear in court because there is no evidence and he was never questioned or investigated from the beginning. He will be appearing for deposition, but since he is widely known, the judge ordered that it will be sealed from the public and public records.