Three men found guilty in the 2018 murder, robbery of XXXTentacion
FORT LAUDERDALE -- A Broward County jury on Monday reached a guilty verdict on all counts in the trial for three men accused of killing local rapper XXXTentacion five years ago during an ambush robbery outside a Deerfield Beach motorbike shop that was caught on surveillance camera.
Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, each stood trial on first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm charges in connection with the murder of the rapper, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy.
The 20-year-old hip hop artist was gunned down on June 18, 2018 during an armed hold-up outside RIVA Motorsports while he sat in his i8 BMW, waiting to drive out of the shop's driveway.
A family relative who was in the front seat managed to run from the car and was not hurt during the incident.
Prosecutors said Boatwright was the gunman, while Newsome had been accused of pointing a loaded gun at the car's occupants. Williams drove the getaway vehicle, according to testimony.
The three men were all on trial together after Judge Michael Usan rejected a request to try them separately.
Jurors heard that Onfroy was carrying $50,000 in cash in a Louis Vuitton satchel because he had been shopping that day for a sport bike, according to testimony.
Prosecutors told the jury that the three suspects concocted an elaborate plan on June 17, 2018 that included renting a vehicle in order to essentially drive around South Florida and rob unsuspecting victims.
The three men, along with Robert Allen, 26, happened to cross paths with Onfroy at the sport shop because one of them needed a face mask to participate in that day's crime spree, prosecutors said during the trial.
Allen pleaded guilty in August 2022 to second-degree murder and he was one of the first witnesses who took the stand to recount for jurors what happened in the moments before, during, and after XXXTentacion was shot and killed.
Allen has not yet been sentenced but he could also face life in prison for his participation in the slaying.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Pascale Achille played cellphone videos the defendants allegedly took hours after the killing that showed them smiling and dancing as they flashed handfuls of $100 bills.
"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," Achille told the jury as she played the video. "Look at how happy they look. Look at how excited they look."
Sentencing for the trio is scheduled for April 6th.
