According to Law & Crime, after testifying in court this week, one of the co-defendants accused of robbing and shooting musician XXXTentacion to death in 2018 denied being hired to assassinate XXX.
After one of their defense attorneys attempted to claim that Drake had recruited them to kill XXXTentacion, Robert Allen, a former member of the group who was called as a state’s witness, informed the court on Wednesday that no one had hired them to kill XXXTentacion.
The Drake and XXX had been feuding at the time of XXXTentacion’s death, spurring speculation that Drake hired them to kill his rap rival.
Drake has been named as a possible suspect in the murder of late rapper XXXTentacion by attorneys for the defense, who argued that the Canadian hitmaker had motive to support their claims.
On Feb. 7, the legal team for Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome and Dedrick Williams, the three men charged with XXXtentacion’s murder, told jurors that investigators and the prosecution were hasty in their conclusion that the defendants were the culprits. They also alleged a failure to explore the possibility of Drake or other celebrity’s involvement and were feeling pressured to nab a suspect in the murder due to the crime being in close proximity to the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School months earlier, during which 17 people were killed.
The rapper, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy, once stated on social media that if he ever ended up dead, Drake would be the reason behind it.
However, he later retracted that bold statement.
Meanwhile, prosecutors had argued that the shooting was the result of a robbery gone wrong, and similarly discredited any claims linking Drake to the fatal shooting.
Allen told prosecutor Pascale Achille the amount of money he and his co-defendants received from robbing XXXTentacion Allen shared he received $5K Michael Boatwright the alleged shooter, received $15K.
Dedrick Williams, the accused getaway driver $15K, and Trayvon Newsome, who is accused of being the other gunman received $15K. As previously reported, the men are facing life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder.
Allen, who prosecutors say was in the SUV, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder
XXX was ambushed after leaving the store in his BMW as Williams cut off the rapper’s sports car with his SUV, while Boatwright and Newsome rushed XXXTentacion’s car to rob him, prosecutor Pascale Achille said in court Tuesday.