One of XXXTentacion’s killers cites his inability to bring up evidence involving Drake in the appeal of his murder conviction.
Dedrick Williams Cites Drake Evidence in Appeal Brief
On Nov. 29, convicted XXXTentacion killer Dedrick Williams’ trial attorney Mauricio Padilla appeared on Law&Crime Network to discuss Williams’ recently filed appeal brief. During the interview, which can be seen below, Padilla expounds on Williams’ complaints, which involved evidence about Drake’s possible involvement not being allowed during trial.
“In December of 2020, I filed a witness list,” Padilla says around the five-mintue timestamp of the video below. “The state’s reaction to that was to file a motion saying ‘We want the court to strike all of his witnesses.’ That’s not something that’s legal or you can do. You have to itemize what you want stricken.”
“Prior to [XXXTentacion] being murdered, he posted on Instagram, ‘If anybody kills me, I’m snitching right now. It’s [Drake].'” Padilla continued. “I’m paraphrasing but something to that effect…I laid out in extreme detail all of my defense witness list, which included many rappers. At the end of the day, the victim in this case was a rapper. He had ongoing public feuds with not only Drake but rappers who are signed to OVO or related to Drake in some way.”
Padilla says Williams’ appeal lawyers are not specifically arguing that Drake pulled the trigger but that the trial was unfair due to the evidence not being allowed.
“A defendant has every right to defend himself and show reasonable doubt wherever it may be and to fully investigate and articulate to a jury an alternate shooter defense or defense that someone else committed this crime,” Padilla added. “Am I going to sit here and tell you that Drake was holding gun…but the facts as they are stated by X’s own mother is that she knew about the beef with Drake.”
Read More: Here Are the Longest Prison Bids in Hip-Hop History
Attorney Unsuccessfuly Argues Drake’s Possible Involvement
Last February, Drake was initially ordered to sit for a deposition for the XXXTentacion murder trial after Padilla cited XXX’s social media post about Drake offing him. However, Drake’s attorney Bradford Cohen was able to successfully quash the motion and Drizzy did not have to get involved.
Dedrick Williams, Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome were found guilty of first-degree murder and robbery in connection to the July of 2018 robbery and killing of XXX last March. The trio was sentenced to life in prison last April.
Read More: XXXTentacion’s Engineer Gives Details on Rapper’s Recording Process for Some of His Most Popular Songs and Projects
Check out Dedrick Williams’ trial attorney discussing Williams calling out Drake below.
