Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
The proof towards the three males standing trial for the 2018 homicide of XXXTentacion consists of video proof, mobile phone proof, and social media posts the place they flash cash believed to have been robbed from the late rapper. But Mauricio Padilla, the legal professional for defendant Dedrick Williams, has implicated Toronto artist Drake as a potential perpetrator, citing lyrics and a 2018 submit on XXXTentacion’s IG story, which said, “if anyone kills me it was @champagnepapi…I’m snitching.” XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Onfroy, later deleted the story and said he was hacked, however Padilla has nonetheless included it in his protection.
Now, Drake, actual identify Aubrey Graham, faces a courtroom order to testify for a deposition (through Zoom) on February twenty fourth, and he’s topic to a contempt of courtroom cost if he ignores it. On February ninth, Padilla petitioned Broward Country Circuit Judge Michael Usan for an “order to show cause” after Graham was served a subpoena however didn’t present as much as courtroom on January twenty seventh. During the trial’s opening arguments, Padilla said, “Before X died, he said, ‘If anybody kills me, it’s Drake.’ Do you think, sitting here years later, any detective has ever asked Drake or anybody like that? No.” He added. “This is one of the biggest celebrities in the world. Excluding an order from this court, we all know that I will never be able to take his deposition.” Padilla additionally cited the February 2018 Parkland, Florida taking pictures, implying that Broward County investigators had devoted so many assets to the college taking pictures that they didn’t correctly examine Onfroy’s homicide.
Lawyer (and former prosecutor) Neama Rahmani calls Padilla’s implication of Graham a “Hail Mary” try and muddy the waters for the jury. “It’s a very tough case to defend,” Rahmani says, citing the barrage of proof towards the three defendants. “So maybe you find a juror that believes in these types of conspiracy theories. They need a unanimous jury. Maybe a couple of jurors buy into this and you can hang the jury.” He provides that the Judge primarily has no selection however to permit the speculation into courtroom. “The judge is saying, ‘if this is their defense, even though there’s no basis in fact, I’m not going to deny them their defense because they have a right as criminal defendants to present evidence that they think will exonerate them. If I deny them that opportunity, that’s a potential appellate issue, and the verdict may be overturned.’”
Attorney Steve Sadow says it’s a “good strategy” for Padilla to lift affordable doubt. “Being able to say ‘some other dude did it,’ that’s a big deal. He has a kernel of fact because the decedent says, ‘If I’m killed, Drake did it.’ So it’s not as if it’s just totally made up. He’s got a little something there that he can use to support his position, which is, to be honest with you, a lot more than we have most of the time.”
Graham was particularly known as for a pretrial discovery deposition, and Sadow notes that Florida is one of many few states that enables such depositions for prison circumstances (versus civil ones). The Atlanta-based legal professional, who most not too long ago represented rapper Gunna, says that “you could never force someone to go under oath in a deposition in a Georgia criminal case.” Both attorneys say that if Graham doesn’t present up, a Florida Judge has the grounds to tremendous him for each courtroom date he misses and even situation a warrant making him topic to arrest if he enters the state. If Graham had an open warrant for contempt, he’d be put into the National Crime Information Computer, a database that each state and federal legislation enforcement use to log excellent warrants.
“The warrant is good for the state of Florida, but no other state is going to enforce it unless you go to the state where Drake is living or he happens to be in, and you ask a judge in that state to also issue a warrant,” Rahmani says. “Let’s say he lives in California, and prosecutors go ask a California judge to issue an arrest warrant because he hasn’t appeared in a Florida case. One, that’s going to take a long time, and the case is ongoing. By the time you actually get that done and he’s arrested, it’s going to be too late. The second question: is California going to extradite?” Rahmani says that the extradition course of would come with Governors of each states and is so onerous that “it doesn’t happen” usually, particularly for a witness who isn’t really charged with something.
Graham has by no means commented publicly about Onfroy or his loss of life, although some followers have speculated that he’s thrown subliminal photographs in his lyrics. Lines from his tune “Nonstop” have been particularly known as into query, although the monitor was launched a month earlier than Onfroy’s loss of life. “SMS, triple X / That’s the only time I ever shoot below the neck / Why you keep on shootin’ if you know that nigga dead? / That’s the only kind of shit that gets you some respect.”
Graham grew to become a determine of Onfroy’s ire after he believed the Toronto artist stole his “Look At Me” move on “KMT,” and known as him a “bitch” for the perceived theft in a March 2017 interview with Miami 103.7. He later tweeted a suggestive comment about Graham’s mom. In February of 2018, the preemptive warning was posted to Onfroy’s Instagram story. However, he later stated he was hacked, apologized, and declared he had no need to “create any more enemies.” After Onfroy’s loss of life, his good pal Ski Mask The Slump God posted an image of himself with Drake and captioned it, “[Drake] actually liked Jahseh music a lot.” Still, the lads weren’t capable of publicly squash the controversy earlier than Onfroy’s loss of life.
Sadow says that if Graham really testifies, he ought to achieve this truthfully and never plead the fifth. “His position [should be that] ‘clearly this whole thing is nonsense. The fact that I have referenced something in a rap song or any kind of song has no meaning whatsoever to the reality of how this killing took place.’” Rahmani provides that Padilla referencing Graham’s lyrics in courtroom paperwork continues a pattern of rap lyrics being taken actually and used as proof, which he says has a “chilling effect” on the style.
“If you’re going to include some lyrics in your song and in the back of your mind, you or your lawyer is saying, ‘Hey man, this may be used against you. Be careful what you say.’ I mean, it’s a problem,” Rahmani says, “It’s art. It’s nothing to do with [actual crimes]. And it’s used sometimes [for] crimes that happen years later that have nothing to do with the lyrics. So that’s why the laws need to change, and state legislatures need to change the rules and say, ‘Hey, you can’t do this.’”