3 men convicted of murder in 2018 robbery-killing of star rapper XXXTentacion
Three men were found guilty Monday in connection with the murder and robbery of rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot outside a South Florida motorcycle shop in 2018. A jury in Broward County returned the verdicts on Monday morning.
Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, were each convicted on charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm for the ambush that led to the death of XXXTentacion. The rapper's real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy.
Jurors deliberated for slightly more than seven days before delivering the verdicts on Monday, marking the end of a trial that lasted about one month. Each convicted perpetrator is expected to receive a mandatory life sentence.
Onfroy — whose double- and quadruple-platinum records came alongside a dedicated cult following both within and outside of his South Florida community — was 20 years old at the time of his death. He is remembered as a rising star whose career was on the brink of exploding, even as he also faced criminal charges tied to the alleged assault of a former girlfriend.
Authorities said Onfroy suffered multiple gunshot wounds after the convicted killers fired at him as he sat behind the wheel of his BMW, which was parked outside of a RIVA Motorsports store in Deerfield Beach. A family relative was seated on the passenger's side of the car and managed to flee the vehicle unharmed.
The deadly armed robbery was captured by a surveillance camera. Jurors in the criminal trial for Boatwright, Williams and Newsome saw the graphic footage in court this past February, CBS Miami reported. It showed an SUV drive up to Onfroy's car in the motorbike shop's parking lot before stopping perpendicular to the BMW, preventing it from exiting onto the street.
Two masked individuals can be seen leaving the SUV and approach the driver's side window of Onfroy's car. A confrontation ensues that ends with one assailant firing a gun through the window. Both suspects then proceed to escape with $50,000 in cash, which Onfroy was carrying inside a Louis Vuitton satchel when the shooting happened, according to testimony heard during the trial. He had planned to use the money to purchase a motorbike from the shop, prosecutors said.
Boatwright and Newsome were the assailants seen in that surveillance footage, according to the prosecution, and the deadly gunshot followed what was a visible brawl allegedly over the money. Prosecutors say Boatwright was the gunman and Newsome was accused of pointing a loaded gun at people inside the BMW. Williams was driving the getaway vehicle and remained inside the SUV as the shooting took place, according to testimony heard in court.
A fourth man, 26-year-old Robert Allen, was previously arrested and charged in connection with Onfroy's murder. Allen pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in August of last year and subsequently gave testimony on behalf of the prosecution in court as the trial's first witness. He could still face a lifetime prison sentence for his alleged role in the killing.
The prosecution built its argument around the accusation that the violent robbery that preceded Onfroy's death was carefully planned. Prosecutors told the jury in Broward County that the three suspects standing trial had devised a scheme one day before the Deerfield Beach shooting, on June 17, that involved renting a vehicle and traveling around the area to commit various robberies. They allegedly spotted Onfroy leaving the parking lot of the motorbike shop, where they had intended to purchase a face mask, and decided to target him, prosecutors said.
During closing arguments earlier this month, prosecutor Pascale Achille painted the alleged killers as "predators" and showed cellphone video footage to the jury that apparently showed the defendants smiling and laughing with stacks of $100 bills, according to CBS Miami. The prosecution said they recorded the video hours after Onfroy 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 playing the cellphone video, CBS Miami reported.