FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Court TV/AP) — A jury has convicted three men in the 2018 murder of rapper XXXTentacion.
Michael Boatwright, 28, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, were convicted of first-degree murder and armed robbery on March 20. All three defendants pleaded not guilty before their trial.
A fourth man, Robert Allen, 26, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year, testified during the first week of trial. Allen reluctantly confessed to details of the shooting, implicating the three other men.
Shooting suspect Michael Boatwright, right, and alleged accomplices, Dedrick Williams, left, and Trayvon Newsome, look towards the courtroom door during a hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, had just left Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale on June 18, 2018, with a friend when an SUV swerved in front of his BMW, blocking them in. Two masked gunmen emerged, confronted XXXTentacion at the driver’s window, and one of the men shot him. They then grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag containing $50,000 cash the singer had just withdrawn from the bank, got back into the SUV and sped away. XXXTentacion died at the hospital shortly after.
Leonard Kerr’s testimony highlighted the opening day in the trial who testified that he was in the car with XXXtentacion before being forcefully made to exit the vehicle.
“If I run, I can get shot, but I can live. If I sit….” Kerr said, his voicing trailing off until he stopped to regain his composure.
Kerr said when he looked back, the taller man was pointing his gun at XXXTentacion, and he said he heard at least two loud bangs. The men then got back into the SUV and sped off, taking with them the $50,000 the rapper had in his designer bag.
Prosecutors accused Boatwright of being the triggerman and accused Williams and Newsome of being accomplices.
All three defendants will receive mandatory life sentences at a later date.
