XXXTENTACION’s clothing and jewelry worn the day he was killed was brought into court as evidence for his murder trial.
The deposition is being sought by Mauricio Padilla, a defense attorney for one of the three suspects, Dedrick Williams. Prosecutors have never claimed that Drake (real name Aubrey Graham) was involved in XXXTentacion’s death, arguing instead that XXX (real name Jahseh Onfroy) was killed in June 2018 during a robbery outside a motorcycle store that quickly escalated to violence. Padilla has inserted Graham, and his alleged feud with the rapper (real name Jahseh Onfroy), into his case as a possible alternative theory to the killing.
Padilla tried to subpoena Graham for a deposition at the end of January, claiming that Graham was properly served but did not show up for the deposition. Padilla then filed an “order to show cause,” which the judge granted, Feb. 9. The order states that because Graham failed to appear for the deposition at the end of January, he “shall appear for a deposition” on Friday, Feb. 24. It continues: “If deponent Aubrey Drake Graham does not appear to deposition he must appear before this court on Monday Feb. 27, 2023 at 10 a.m. EST at so [sic] the court can determine why he should not be held in contempt.” In new court filings, obtained by Rolling Stone, Graham’s lawyers hit back at Padilla and the ruling. For starters, they claimed that the original deposition subpoena was not properly served, nor was it properly accepted by Graham. The filing also says the subpoena for deposition “places an unreasonable and oppressive burden” on Graham, with his lawyers pushing back against Padilla’s claims about his alleged involvement.
“In a case such as this, it is both unreasonable and oppressive to subpoena an out of state party who has not been mentioned in any reports, any investigation, or referenced to have any involvement in this matter,” the filing reads. “Based on the evidence so far provided in this case, there is video which purports to show the defendants allegedly as participants in the murder of the victim. No evidence has been provided to substantiate the assertion that [Graham] in any way contributed to, had knowledge of, or participated in the alleged incident and to mandate that he appear for deposition for something that he very clearly has no relevant knowledge of is unreasonable.”
According to Kerr, the two men confronted them with weapons, urging them to get out of the car. Kerr obliged, while XXXTentacion stayed in the vehicle. As Kerr fled, he heard “at least two loud bangs,” before he noticed the two men got back into their car and had taken the $50,000 XXXTentacion is seen withdrawing from his bank account in the above video.
Three men involved in the murder face charges, with Michael Boatwright, 28, accused of being the shooter; Trayon Newsome, 24, accused of being the other gunman; and Dedrick Williams, 26, accused of being the driver.
