XXXTentacion Killers Found Guilty in Florida Murder Trial

A jury on Monday found three men guilty in the 2018 killing of rapper XXXTentacion outside a South Florida motorcycle shop.

Dedrick Williams, 26, Trayvone Newsome, 24, and Michael Boatwright, 28, were convicted of first-degree murder and armed robbery on the eighth day of deliberations.

Prosecutors in Broward County, Florida, said the trio robbed and fatally shot XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Onfroy, on June 18, 2018.

A fourth defendant, Robert Allen, 26, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder in the case.

XXXTentacion [shown above] started his career by posting songs on SoundCloud, and eventually logged millions of streams on Spotify. He grew up in Plantation, Florida, and was well known to local rap music fans.

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The “Look at Me!” rapper had just left the motorcycle store when an SUV blocked in his luxury BMW i8. The attackers stole the rapper’s Louis Vuitton bag containing $50,000 in cash and shot him as he sat in his car, prosecutors said.

Investigators linked Williams, Newsome, and Boatwright to the killing through surveillance video from inside and outside the store, along with cellphone videos the men recorded of themselves flashing $100 bills hours after the slaying, local news station WPLG-TV reported.

Boatwright and Newsome were identified as the gunmen. Prosecutors said Williams drove the rented SUV the group was riding in, and Allen was the lookout.

Allen cooperated with the prosecution and told the court the men spotted the rapper at the motorcycle shop and decided to rob him.

XXXTentacion, 20, was left to die outside Riva Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. First responders transported him to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Evidence presented during the trial showed Boatwright sent a text message about an hour after the killing, saying: “Tell my brother I got the money for the new phone.” He then texted someone a screenshot of a news article saying XXXTentacion had been shot, prosecutors said.

Circuit Judge Michael Usan set a sentencing date of April 6 for the three men. Per Florida law, a first-degree murder conviction brings an automatic life sentence.

Allen has not yet been sentenced and could get anywhere from time served to life, according to local news reports.

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XXXTentacion reportedly signed a $10 million record deal right before he was killed.

The New York Times reported the deal was with independent music company, Empire, which released his debut studio album, 17, in August 2017.

Empire founder Ghazi Shami told The Times the up-and-coming rapper had finished “a significant amount of material” before he died.

Following his death, the rapper’s single “Sad!” jumped from #52 to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His other hits on the Billboard charts included “Moonlight,” “Falling Down,” “Changes,” “Jocelyn Flores,” and “Arms Around You.”

Despite his success, XXXTentacion was familiar to local law enforcement.

At the time of his death, he was awaiting trial for a 2016 domestic-abuse case, after allegedly beating and threatening to kill his pregnant ex-girlfriend. He was charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant victim and witness tampering. He had also been accused of punching fans at concerts.