Law&Crime Sidebar - XXXTentacion Murder Case: Rising Rap Star Killed in Cold Blood — The Full Story

Episode Date: March 21, 2023

On June 18, 2018, the hip-hop community was shocked when XXXTentacion was robbed at gunpoint and shot to death in broad daylight. The rising music artist developed a cult following prior to his death, garnering the attention of millions of listeners every month. Rumors of who was responsible for the rapper’s death created chaos in the community as theorists set their eyes on Drake, who beefed with XXXTentacion prior to the armed robbery. The rapper, birth name Jahseh Onfroy, was shopping at a motorcycle dealership when he was robbed and gunned down for $50,000 cash. Investigators later determined four men were involved with Onfroy’s death — Trayvon Newsome, Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams, and Robert Allen. After hearing weeks of testimony and evidence in the case, along with a confession from Allen, a jury found the three remaining suspects guilty of the armed robbery and murder of Jahseh Onfroy. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down the full story with SiriusXM host Mina “SayWhat” Llona.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will

keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The murder trial of XXXTentacione is finally over. We speak with the slain rapper's grandmother for her thoughts on this case, and we also break down the twists and turns with serious X-M's Mina Say What Lona. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. The defendant is guilty of murder and the first degree is charged in the indictment.

The murder trial of XXXTentacion has finally come to an end. This after a little over of 27 hours of deliberations. That's how long the jury took to find all three defendants, Michael Boatwright, Dietrich Williams and Trayvon News. him guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery in connection with the killing of the young rising rap star. So just a little bit of a backstory here. XXX, his real name was Jasei Enfroy. And before his death, he rose to fame through SoundCloud, released hit songs like Sad, he had albums that reached the top of the charts. He really developed a cult-like following people, loved him. Now, to give you a better sense of this, I actually interviewed Enfroy's grand.

grandmother, Yvonne Carr, in a phone interview. And this is what she had to say about how warm and special her grandson was. Every time I think of, you know, how young and upcoming he was and how he changed his life. He was just such a wonderful, a beautiful soul. You know, we all make mistakes when we are younger in life. but as we change your ways I think of it every day what he would have been

what he would have been like the things he would have been doing he was an awesome person he's kind even loving you know he would do things to people that were you know you would think about the things that he has done he's done things for people

who just came into his life like way later you know he did things like for them. And so we keep thinking of, you know, just say he, the last time he came to my house and we had a dinner, he was such a playful soul. He came in and, oh, my God, with his sister and his aunts and everybody, we had a good time, a really, really good time. And he was just being playful. And everybody was saying, just goy, stop, stop, you know. But now, let's go back to June 18, 2018.

XXX was shopping for motorcycles with his step-uncle in Deerfield Beach, Florida. And before going to the motorcycle dealership, XXX is seen withdrawing a large amount of cash at a nearby bank. And that is when four men, the three defendants and an additional man, follow him to the dealership. And we believe Mr. Williams and this fourth man, the trio's co-defendant, Robert Allen, actually go inside the store to confirm that it is indeed the rapper. And when XXX and his step-uncle leave the dealership, Boatwright, Williams, Newsom, and Allen pull up on him in an SUV with guns drawn. Surveillance video actually shows Enfroy's step-uncle fleeing from the car, but unfortunately X could not get away. And after

robbing the rapper, literally stealing his Louis Vuitton bag with $50,000 cash inside, Michael Boatwright fires multiple times killing Enfroid. This rapper was only 20 years old when he was killed. And to give you kind of an idea of how terrifying this event was, XXX, step-uncle Leonard Carr, testified about what happened. Did you see anything that happened to Jase and the gunman after that? Okay. Before when I arrived here, open the microphone.

A tall guy, as I tell you, the taller guy went around to Jassay side. The shot I want now come around to the door that I was, my door that I opened, and he'd go inside the car. You saw that. I see that, because I was looking, when I run up there and saw some, who in the, the man that was on the phone, and keep looking down there. When I keep looking, I realized that the shot I want

to come around to my side. The toddler one would go to just inside. Okay, so it's almost like, I'm sorry. And then I heard something like, right, right, how much time I don't know, but I heard something like it's a good. And an explosion? Yeah. And he would say how lucky he is to be alive after all this. This clearly was a targeted attack, a targeted robbery, and prosecutors made this very clear in their arguments at trial.

8.3561. So ask yourselves, that's more than enough time to formulate the premeditated intent and the design to kill someone and the killing. More than enough. It's an eternity practically that feels like. And think about what the three co-defendants were doing during that time. Look at how long that time is, as they sat there, and they waited, and they confirmed and looked up. Jasei Envoy's vehicle and his pictures from his social media to make sure that it was him.

And they sat there, and they waited across the street. Objection, Jackson. I don't know. With a vantage point, just close enough to see the victim. BMW but they think far enough that is out of the site of surveillance and they sat there and they decided amongst themselves who was going to jump out it wasn't going to be Robert Allen it wasn't going to be Dietrich Williams because Dieter Williams was a driver and so during that eight minutes and 35 seconds

Michael Beaulbright is putting on his mask. Trayvon Newsom is putting on his mask. They're covering their heads with hoodies. They're making sure that the firearm is loaded. The 22 caliber rifle. The prosecution would go on to explain how it was only eight minutes and 35 seconds between the time the three defendants or four defendants set up their attack to the time that Michael Boatwright shot and killed XX, Exentatioam.

But prosecutors had a lot more evidence against the three men. Williams ex-girlfriend testified that he told her he was there when X, X, X, X, X was killed. About an hour after the shooting, Boatwright sent a text, quote, tell my brother, I got the money for the new phone, and then minutes after that, he sent someone a screenshot to a news story about the shooting. The lead investigator in the case testified that the shell casings collected a new phone. at the crime scene where the same brand and caliber of rounds found at Diedrich Williams' home. And then, of course, there was the critical testimony of the man that I mentioned before,

Robert Allen. He wasn't on trial with the other three defendants because he took a guilty plea to second-degree murder and he testified against these men pointing them out in open court as the culprits. Trayvon does some do that after he grabs a bag. I see he grabbed the bag of shots on the front. Judge, I'm going to ask him to speak to the iPhone. As he's grabbing the bag, shops are fired. Who shoots the shots that are fired?

Michael Bordoran. And who does he shoot? Triple X. Where does he shoot him from? What side of the car? Driver. So if triple X is in the driver seat and Michael Bote right is in the driver's side, the shots are coming onto triple X's left side?

Or right side. Which side? Yes, side. Okay. And what happens, how many times do you recall that Michael Voltwright shoots Triple X? Maybe like 200 times. What is Triple X do as a result of that? I see. What is Michael Boltwright do next?

What does Trayvon Newsom do? What does Trayvon Newsom do? It comes out the slips, sticks and fall a little bit, and the rest of the part. What is Dietrich Williams do? Now, are all four back-and-dodge journey? Yes. What does Dietrich Williams do? You drive home.

Alan claims that Newsom grabbed the bag of money, Boatwright shot XXX, and Williams was the getaway driver as he sat in the car. So you might be asking, why did it take the jury so long to come back with guilty verdicts when there's all this evidence? Well, throughout the course of the trial, there were some very interesting arguments from the defense, and it's the jury's job to hear both sides. And the defense definitely got creative. For example, with respect to Robert Allen, the defense attorney suggested he couldn't be believed. Robert Allen is the only person that you will hear from that puts Michael Boatwright at Reva Motorsports on June 18, 2000. and he has a whole host of reasons to lie.

In law school, they teach us don't promise something in opening statement that you can't deliver on during the trial. Let me be very clear. If Robert Allen testifies in this case, he will lie and we will prove that he is lying. Police ignored an extraordinary amount of evidence that Michael was not to kill it, was not involved in this case. And Enfroy's grandmother didn't think too highly of Alan either. I just think he's another murderer because once you were in the company of these men with all the plans they had, I mean, I don't see one.

he shouldn't serve as much time as they did, they are going to do. Now, by the way, because there are three defendants at this trial, each of their lawyers was able to give their own opening statement. So, Diedrich Williams' attorney, Maurice Padilla, was up next. And his argument was that law enforcement didn't investigate this properly. He touched on the fact that the Broward County PD had their backs up against the wall because of the Parkland School shooting that just happened, which was not too far from the crime scene just four months prior.

He went on to argue how the same detectives from the Parkland school shooting that handled this case, how investigators cut corners because they wanted to wrap this up as quickly as possible. Now, remember how I said that the defense got creative? Well, Padilla goes on to say how law enforcement really didn't look into a specific person that maybe they should have. That person is none other than Grammy award winning rapper Drake. Before X died, he said, if anybody kills me, it's Drake. And do you think that for one moment, here today, days after the event, he's killed by two mass men, right? He came on on social media and said, guys, before he does, if anybody kills me, it's right?

Do you think in that time span that they went and they addressed them, they talked to him? No. Do you think sitting here today years later, any detective has ever asked, you know, Drake or anybody like that? No, they never did that. So you ask yourself, how could that be? if any of us is involved in, you know, God forbid in a murder, and you say, hey, it's so-and-so, you better believe so-and-so is going to get investigated,

but in this case, they didn't do it. They didn't do it because it didn't comport with their version and their narrative. And as law enforcement, I think that they have the obligation to do so. Another issue. Before, and the evidence will show that before Mr. Enfroid, was killed. There was an individual by the name of Antonio King, aka 600 Breezy, that posted on YouTube saying,

when I get off of probation, Yeah, you heard that correctly, Drake. The idea here being that there was a beef, there was a rap beef between the two, and police didn't even bother to look at it. In fact, Padilla was pushing this Drake narrative when he cross-examined Allen. How much money in 2018 did you receive from either Drake or one of Drake's associates?

I never met him before. You never met Dr. No. Do you know who he is, though, right? Yes. Okay. But actually, in 2018, when this crime occurred, you didn't know who X was? No. Okay, so in 2018, you're from Broward County, correct? Yes.

You listen to rap music, correct? Yes. And you're telling this jury. that you didn't know who literally probably the most famous rapper to ever come out of Broward County was in 2018 in June of 2018. That's your testimony? Yes. So again, now the question is, is it possible Drake was behind this because of, you know,

rap lyrics and a rap feud? Well, Padilla got to a point where he actually persuaded the judge in this case that Drake has to appear for a deposition. Now, you think Drake was going to take that lying down? No. His lawyer came to court to fight the deposition subpoena. If I was hired earlier, I would have probably filed a motion to quash that deposition itself because, like I said, there needs to be some good faith showing at least, you know, his phone

was in the area. He was in the state of Florida at the time. There's some sort of communication. There's something. And there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever other than rumor and new and no. And the problem is that someone could come take a stand and say, you know, Elvis made me do it. Yeah, the whole thing was a mess. And I think it was pretty clear that Drake had nothing to do with Enfroy's murder.

So the judge ultimately ruled that Drake wouldn't have to sit for a deposition. Now, let's go back to some of the more of the defense's other arguments. Let's go to Trayvon Newsom's attorney, George Reris. He emphasized what the evidence will not show in this case. My opening statement and all opening statements are supposed to be about what the evidence will show. But in this case, I'm going to tell you what the evidence will not show. The evidence will not show that any firearm was ever recovered that could be matched or linked to Traybunderson. The evidence will not show that anything from a thorough search of his home where he lived with his father and his sister,

including digging up his entire backyard because they heard the money was buried there, turned up anything that would lend Trayvon Newsom to this terrible crime. The evidence will not show that Trayvon has ever made a statement of admission or any statement that would link him to this terrible crime to any third party or anyone else, for that matter. The evidence will show no DNA whatsoever found on the body of Mr. to Enfreude or on that car, although you see a tussle going on, you see they allege he goes around the car and gets actually into it, no DNA whatsoever linked to Trayvon Newsom, no fingerprints linked to Trayvon Newsom. No cell phone evidence places Trayvon Newsom anywhere near

that scene of the crime that day. No credible eyewitnesses. No proof. No proof. Trevone was ever at Reva that day. No less that he's that shadowy person you see in the video, jump out of the car and appear to brandish a firearm. Now, he's got some decent points, but there is the surveillance footage of his client, the other defendants committing the crime, arguably the most important piece of evidence coupled with Alan's testimony, except, except I have to mention what could be the one thing that may have sealed the deal, videos.

Videos recorded hours after the robbery and killing that showed the defendants dancing around and flashing $100 bills. Here's the prosecution asking Detective Walter Foster about that. Can you tell the ladies and gentlemen the jury the date in time that you perceived it to have been recorded? That was the date of the homicide at 529 p.m. Detective, in that particular video video, what do we see? Mr. Williams fanning out multiple $100 bills.

And what is he wearing in that video? The gray, white tank top. Yeah. Maybe not the smartest idea if you commit a crime. Also, the outfit that Williams is seen wearing in that video is the same outfit that he was wearing in the surveillance video at the dealership. So not great there either. And so even with a long deliberation process, maybe not a surprise that the defendants were all found guilty. And they are going to face sentencing at a later date where there is a mandatory term of life in prison. And once again, here is Enfroy's grandmother, Yvonne Carr, talking about what it was like to hear this verdict. and what's next for her and the family. So yesterday, when my daughter texted and she said, verdict, I began shaking like a leaf because I didn't know what to think. I was hoping for the best outcome, you know,

that they would be found guilty. But then there had been all kind of mixed, you know, feelings of them saying that they would walk, they didn't find any fingerprints, they did, you know, no DNA evidence or so. So I was a bit worried. So in the end, when it came down and the judge handed down the, you know, the findings and said they were all guilty. Oh, my God.

Then I started shaking. I was so happy, you know, just happy for the outcome that. justice was served so much to get into regarding the trial and the verdict in the murder trial of xxentacion and we thought who better to break it all down with us than of course award-winning radio host and multimedia personality mina lona aka mina say what mina is currently on air nationwide on serious x ms the heat with her show minas house actually just caught it this past weekend she's also heard on w r R&B FM 100.3 Philly weekdays and her weekly podcast, Mina's house podcast, can be found on Mina say what.com and all podcast platforms. And she's also a feature writer for the Philadelphia

Tribune. Mina, so good to see you. Thanks so much for coming back here on sidebar. And I'm laughing a little bit because we had tried to get you on for the past week and a half because we kept waiting for the verdict to come down in the X trial. And it just didn't. So I apologize that now, It took so long, but we finally have you on. It's not your fault. The jury took almost eight days, which I don't understand because of the overwhelming evidence available in this case, everything from the video of the murder to the social media pictures of them flashing the money to text messages that they exchanged. I don't understand why it took almost eight days and then they recessed for St. Patty's days.

Yeah, they, I was very confused. The jury that almost felt like, and this is pure speculation, that they liked jury duty. I mean, maybe it was the little bit of pay, the money, the, they kind of had a little flexibility. They said, they wanted to take a Friday off. The judge said, okay, I'm going to give them the Friday off. What I can tell, though, they were asking questions about the text messages that regarded one of the defendants, Michael Boatwright.

I think those were key text messages that basically show. you know, after the killing, after the robbery, that he had all this money come to him. And, you know, he was interested in what was happening with the shooting. But in your perspective, what do you think they might have been wrestling with? Because we kind of did an in-depth dive on some of the defense's arguments. Do you think they were struggling with respect to at least one or all of the defendants? I think it was, I think it made it complicated that all three were tried together, right? because it's like if you give one

a sentence, you kind of have to give the rest of them. And the fact in this matter is two of these men were the shooters and one was the driver. Now you know there's a fourth guy involved and that guy who provided testimony and pled guilty to second degree murder

he was also one of the driver. So I think maybe that was the holdup, the fact that there were three people involved here and then obviously who's responsible for what. I mean, at end of the day there was so much evidence whether you were the driver or the shooter people needed to be held accountable for either committing this murder or helping and execute this murder

in whatever in whatever part they served yeah and robert allen was a questionable witness you know you always have to take a grain of salt with somebody like him who agrees to testify but i don't know from my perspective i thought he seemed pretty credible and was tying the three men to the crime By the way, did you see the video of when they were all found guilty and they stand up and they're arrested? They showed no reaction. It was really curious. What did you think of that? I thought that was odd too.

And I know social media had a field day with the one guy who was wearing his Easter white. They were like, why was he wearing his Easter white, you know, three-piece suit? But I thought that was interesting as well. I mean, I have to think all the evidence that was presented, they should, maybe they had an inkling of, hey, there's no way to introduce reasonable doubt into the jury's minds. And you kind of mentally start to prepare yourself. But these aren't short sentences. These are life sentences.

So I don't understand why there wasn't some sort of emotion. Well, just be clear that they haven't officially been sentenced yet. They are going to be sentenced. They know what the outcome is because it's a mandatory sentence. But maybe it was a shock for them when the first guilty verdict rang out. and then they assume that the rest of them were going to be found guilty, but that's not always the case.

I've seen cases before where there's multiple defendants and one of them might be found not guilty. So it became a question where I thought I might see a reaction from each of them, but you really didn't see that. And by the way, the way they're dressed,

you know, they try to make the best that they look in front of the jury. Yeah, but it was the Easter white. Yeah. I just, social media had a field day. You know, that's the weird thing about social media. They find the smallest things and then go off of that, you know.

But yeah, it was curious that they didn't have a reaction, even though they haven't been sentenced yet, to your point, but we know that this is not going to be good. What was the reaction from the hip-hop community, the music industry, after this verdict? Because it was such a weird case. I mean, you're dealing with the death of a 20-year-old musician who really was about to start the height of his career. And, you know, Drake was implicated in this case at one point. The music industry was heavily tied into it. What has been the reaction since the verdict's came down. I think overall there's a sense of thank the Lord that this is over. I mean, it's been five years. The fact that it took five years for Triple X's mother to get some kind of closure or maybe feel like someone's been held accountable for the murder of her son. She even wore a shirt on social media with his face on it just to say, hey, you know, and in court as well saying, hey, my son is here with us. It's more so a sense of relief

that someone has been, people have been found guilty and the family can get some kind of closure. But then I also saw the conversations about Drake. And some people were like, well, maybe y'all can leave Drake alone now. And some people were like, okay, well, are you guys going to investigate Drake now?

You've gotten the people that actually have carried out the murder. There is speculation on social media and back to our previous pods because of some of his lyrics that some people are speculating that he might have had some ties to this. So there was a mixture, but I think overall, it's more so, thank the Lord that this has done. It's been five years. This family needs closure. You're telling me people still believe Drake hired these three men or, excuse me, four men to carry out this attack.

Did you read our comments in our last pod? Did you read them? Apparently not. No, I literally mentioned one lyric because our conversation. was there was a very public beef that they had. You know, how public was it? It was very public. Drake was rapping about it

in his lyrics. That's, and I use an example. The comments were like, oh my God, that's not the only lyric. There are literally people that have dissected all of Drake's lyrics when they were written, when they were released, and tied them to this murder. And

there are a population of people that believe that there is something there and that it needs to be looked into. to now you and I have spoken about many trials including the young thug trial you know my position on lyrics okay i don't go just off of lyrics i need concrete evidence if someone can you know find footage or text messages or video uh you know recordings something tying drake to this then yeah this is something that you pursue but you don't pursue it just based just based off lyrics because as we've talked about sometimes people say things in their lyrics that are not factual

and Drake has been known not to write his lyrics in the past, and that is a fact. Now, Mina, I think the best place to end this conversation is just to go back to the victim, go back to X for a second, because when he was taken from everyone, where was his career headed? I mean, where would you have imagined it would have gone if he wasn't killed in 2018? He would have been one of the biggest artists out right now. His following is cult-like. he has an extremely loyal fan base and his talent was there

and you remember this beef started over allegedly Drake using his flow his talent was there his fan base was there the young man was on the rise and it's always very sad to see in these cases you have so these men are so young and they're so full of life and there's so much for them to live and their lives are being cut short

and it's sad because this man managed to accomplish all the things that he did on his short amount of time on the earth imagine what he would have done in five years that it took for this case to be over in the 10 years, in the 15 years at a young age of 20

he managed to create music that moved people and then even got the attention of the biggest artist in hip hop in the past 10, 15 years he got the attention of Drake. So his talent is just, it's sad that we will not see where his talent would have taken him. It's a really good point. It's just a tragic end note too.

I know it's been a bizarre trial to follow, but at the end of the day, it's the tragedy of him being taken away that I think we should all remember. Mina, say what, Lona. Thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it. And I look forward to having you back on. Thank you, as always. And that's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.