XXXTentacion Murder Trial: Jurors To See Cell Phone Data Of Rapper’s Accused Killers
On Monday (March 13), jury deliberations in the trial of three men accused of murdering XXXTentacion concluded their fourth day.
According to the Associated Press, the deliberations included the review of almost 1,200 text messages and several videos and photos seized from two of the defendant’s cell phones.
Some of the videos and photos showed the defendants flashing $100 bills after the June 18, 2018 shooting of the rising Florida rapper outside a suburban Fort Lauderdale motorcycle dealership. Two robbers allegedly killed X and then stole the Louis Vuitton bag he was carrying with $50,000 in cash.
Jurors, according to the AP, requested the data from the phones of the alleged shooting Michael Boatwright and the accused getaway driver and ringleader Dedrick Williams from the day before and the day of the shooting.
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Additionally, there was also a photo of a story from a news website about the shooting, photos from shopping and dating apps, and videos of a defendant in a pedicab with a woman and a Father’s Day greeting.
Boatwright, 27, Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, are three of the four alleged co-defendants facing charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. The fourth, Robert Allen, 26, already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in August 2022.
During opening statements in February, the defense told the jury that they would challenge Allen’s account, with one attorney saying Allen essentially lied in order to spare himself a life sentence.
Allen told the jury 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," he said, adding that they had guns in order to carry out their alleged crime spree.
Additionally, Allen said the idea to rent the car came from Williams, who was the alleged getaway driver, and that they happened to run across the rapper by coincidence.
The three co-defendants on trial could face life in prison if convicted. Authorities believe Boatwright was the assailant who allegedly fired the shots at XXXTentacion.
