Drake Off the Hook: Won’t Face Questioning in XXXTentacion Murder Trial
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NBC Miami reports on Friday that a BROWARD COUNTY JUDGE ruled that Drake, born Ashley Graham, will not be deposed in the XXXTentacion murder trial because there is no evidence that he was involved in the 2018 killing. The judge’s decision comes after a defense attorney said armed guards rebuffed process servers at the rapper’s Beverly Hills mansion last week. Drake’s lawyer Bradford Cohen had requested that the court strike a court order requiring Drake to take a deposition on Monday. Mauricio Padilla, a defense attorney for Dedrick Williams (one of the three accused), sought Graham’s deposition because he believed he had some role in the death of XXXTentacion (born Jahseh Onfroy)death. According to Padilla, he declined to comment on Friday’s decision.
NEW: Judge in #XXXTentacion trial rules in favor of @Drake and he will not have to sit for a deposition.
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 24, 2023
Judge: " …no evidence of (Drake) being involved other than hearsay and innuendo. You are now trying to just drag somebody in who's a celebrity…" pic.twitter.com/7pwXHaHcdN
Although prosecutors haven’t given credence to Drake’s alleged involvement, Padilla emphasized an alleged feud between Graham and XXXTentacion in an attempt to raise doubts. In addition to trying to get Graham to take a deposition, Padilla referred to the alleged rift between the two musicians in his opening arguments. In February 2018, he cited a social media post from Onfroy that read, If anyone tries to kill me, it will be @champagnepapi [Drake’s Instagram handle]. Currently, I’m snitching. A short time later, the post was retracted and deleted. Padilla filed a document on Feb. 17 that Rolling Stone obtained, stating Cohen and Padilla would have to work together to come up with an appropriate time for the deposition, agree on parameters for the topics discussed, and even mention the possibility of sealing the deposition.
Broward County Judge Ruled That Rapper Drake Will Not Be Questioned In The XXXTentacion Murder Trial
Drake is not going to be deposed by the defense attorneys in the fellow rapper XXXTentacion Murder Trial, which begins in South Florida on August 29. In a Friday ruling, a Broward County judge ruled that Drake, real name Aubrey Graham, won’t be required to give a deposition since there’s no evidence that he was involved in the killing of XXXTentacion. According to Broward County court records released earlier this month, Drake was scheduled to appear in a virtual deposition on Friday, but he refused to be served. T he June 18, 2018 shooting that killed XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, included a number of rappers listed as potential defense witnesses. Dedrick Williams’ attorney had tried to get Drake to appear at a pre-trial deposition for one of the defendants accused in the XXXTentacion Murder Trial, but the “Nice for What” rapper made no appearance. An Instagram post from XXXTentacion in which he claims, if anyone tried to kill me, it was @champagnepapi [Drake] has been cited by defense attorney Mauricio Padilla.
It was later deleted and XXXTentacion retracted that, claiming the account was hacked. According to Williams’ attorney, police didn’t investigate the possibility that the shooting was caused by a feud between XXXTentacion and Drake during opening statements in the trial. “Hail Mary” tactics were used by prosecutors to create reasonable doubt about who was behind the murder. Drake’s attorneys claimed he had no involvement in the case and shouldn’t be deposed. Drake’s lawyer, Brad Cohen, said in court earlier this month: I believe you have a corroborating witness that Mr. Graham has nothing to do with this case. Graham is not mentioned in any report and has not been discussed in any way in relation to this case that I’m aware of other than rumours and innuendo. When XXXTentacion was shot and killed during what authorities said was a robbery at Riva Motorsports near Fort Lauderdale, he was in his BMW sports car, which was blocked by an SUV.
