Trial continues in rapper XXXTentacion's murder
FORT LAUDERDALE -- The trial in the murder of local rap star XXXTentacion continued Thursday.
For a second day, suspect Robert Allen took the stand. He testified against the other suspects.
Allen has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is a witness in the case.
He testified about witness intimidation from one of the co-defendants in the case.
An attorney asked, "Were there any comments made to you that were not coming from myself or any attorneys? Who made a comment to you about your testimony?"
Allen replied, "Yes, Trayvon Newsome."
Jurors also saw images of the suspects showing off money.
Allen testified they took these pictures a couple of days after killing XXXTentacion.
Then he is asked, "Does that currency that you and your co-defendant, Michal Boatwright are holding from the $50,000 that you stole from the victim when you killed him?"
"Yes," said Allen.
The local rap star was shot and killed outside a Broward County motorbike shop back on June 18, 2018.
Earlier this week, jurors got to see graphic video that was captured by surveillance cameras that documented the final minutes of the life of XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy.
The 20-year-old artist was gunned down during a robbery outside RIVA Motorsports, while he sat in his i8 BMW, waiting to drive out of the business' driveway.
According to testimony, Onfroy was carrying $50,000 in cash in a Louis Vuitton satchel, money he obtained from a Coconut Creek bank. He had intended to use the funds to buy a motorbike from the shop, prosecutors said.
Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, are each facing charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. They are all standing trial together after Judge Michael Usan rejected a request to try them separately.
If convicted, each of the men could be sentenced to life in prison.
Robert Allen, 26, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to second-degree murder and he spent most of the day on the stand telling jurors what happened in the moments before, during and after XXXTentacion was shot and killed.
During opening statements, defense lawyers told the jury that they would challenge Allen's account, with one lawyer saying essentially that he had lied in order to spare himself a life sentence in prison.
Allen, wearing a tan prison jumpsuit and testifying for the prosecution, had to be reminded several times by state attorney Pascale Achille and defense lawyers to speak up as he recounted what happened the day Onfroy died.
Allen told jurors that the four men agreed on June 17, 2018, to rent a vehicle in order to drive around and rob unsuspecting victims.
"We had masks to rob people," Allen said, adding that all four would have guns in order to carry out their alleged crime spree.
Allen said the idea to rent the car came from Williams, who Achille said was the getaway driver. Allen also said all of the men had face masks except for Williams, which is why the group ended up at the shop.
While there, they just happened to run across XXXTentacion.
"Deidrick said it's XXX," Allen said while he and Williams were in the store. At that point, they began communicating with two others outside and hatched a plan to rob Onfroy while "lying in wait" for the rapper to leave the store after all four had returned to their vehicle, Achille said.
The video captured a Dodge SUV blocking the rapper's BMW in the driveway as two men, one of them armed with a long-barrel rifle, went to his car to demand his jewelry and take his designer bag.
The video also showed a front-seat passenger, identified as a family relative, who ran from the car as the armed heist occurred.
"I couldn't see or hear what XXX was saying," Allen said, accusing Boatwright of firing up to three shots that killed the rapper.
Allen said he did not get out of the car because he had been captured on a surveillance camera inside the shop and knew that it would be used to connect him to the crime.
"I knew there was a good chance I would get caught," he testified. "I did not want to get arrested."
Immediately after the shooting, the four said they learned that Onfroy had died while listening to the radio. The four ended up crashing the rented Dodge SUV when they rear-ended a stopped vehicle just a few minutes after the killing, Allen said.
They all abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene but would reunite later after Newsome returned to the scene to get the vehicle.
During his testimony, Allen testified that each of the men received $15,000 of the stolen money but he only received $5,000 because he stayed in the vehicle during the robbery.
The money he said, "looked like it came from a bank," Allen said.