Justice is served! A Florida jury convicted three men, Michael Boatwright (27), Dedrick Williams (26) and Trayvon Newsome (24) on Monday (March 20) for the murder of rapper, XXXTentacion. All three men were charged with first-degree murder for the death of the controversial rapper.
The Murder Was Pre-Meditated…
Three men, Michael Boatwright (27), Dedrick Williams (26) and Trayvon Newsome (24), were found guilty in connection with the 2018 murder and robbery of rapper, XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy. The rapper was shot outside a Florida motorcycle shop in 2018.
The jury in Broward County deliberated for more than seven days before delivering the verdict on Monday (March 20), marking the end of a murder trial that lasted about one month. It was noted that each convict is expected to receive a mandatory life sentence.
Jurors took into consideration the graphic footage in court this past February. The footage revealed that an SUV drove up to the rapper’s car in the motorcycle shop’s parking lot before landing perpendicular to his BMW, stopping it from exiting onto the street.
Apart from this, a fourth person, Robert Allen (26), was previously charged in connection with the rapper’s murder. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and subsequently provided testimony on behalf of the prosecution as the trial’s first witness. Despite this, he still faces a lifetime prison sentence for his role.
Last month, prosecutor Pascale Achille pointed out during the closing arguments that the alleged killers were “predators”. He also showed the cellphone video footage to the jury wherein the convicts were seen smiling and laughing with stacks of $100 bills. This video was recorded hours after XXXTentacion was killed.
“This is who they are. This is their real character. Killers that within 24 hours after shooting the victim dead and stealing $50,000 from him, this is what they do … Look at how happy they look. Look at how excited they look,” Achille said last month while playing the cellphone video.
XXXTentacion’s 2018 Killing…
Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, who was widely known as XXXTentacion, was a famous rapper who was 20 years old at the time of his death. Though controversial, he gained a dedicated cult following both within and outside of South Florida during his short career with his depression and alienation-themed music.
Onfroy, known for his double-and quadruple-platinum records, was shot and killed in broad daylight in Florida. He was visiting a motorcycle shop and while leaving, he was approached by two armed marked men who “demanded property” from him. He was shot in the parking lot of the motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
He was attacked when he sat behind the wheels of his BMW. The rapper was also accompanied by a family relative who was sitting in the passenger’s seat. However, the relative fled the scene unharmed. After firing multiple shots at him, the convicts fled the scene in an SUV after stealing his Louis Vuitton bag, which contained $50,000 cash.
The deadly armed robbery was captured by a surveillance camera, which helped crack this case within a month. It showed an SUV drive up to the rapper’s car in the parking lot before stopping perpendicular to the rapper’s car. This prevented him from exiting the scene onto the street. The convicts face a presumptive sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.