Toronto rapper Drake will not have to provide a deposition for the ongoing XXXTentacion murder trial after a Broward County judge ruled in his favour. Despite pleas from the late rapper’s family, judge Michael A. Usan insisted there was insufficient evidence for a deposition. Drake (real name Aubrey Graham) was just one of many rappers who were listed as potential witnesses for the murder of the late Florida artist XXXTentacion (real name Jaseh Onfroy), who was shot dead in 2018.
Graham was cited as a potential witness following an insinuation made by defence lawyer Mauricio Padilla, an attorney of the suspect Dedrick Williams. Padilla requested Drake give a deposition due to what he claimed was a beef between the Canadian and South Florida rapper in 2018.
Drake was set to appear in a virtual deposition on February 24th, 2023. However, according to Broward County court records released earlier this month, there was an ongoing issue as Graham was refusing to be served with a subpoena. Padilla filed a motion detailing the multiple setbacks the defence had had with regard to serving Drake with a subpoena.
The motion that was filed even explained how the rapper’s security kicked his subpoena down the driveway upon its rightful delivery to the musician’s house. In a publicly available video from the courtroom, Judge Usan made the ruling that considering the multiple subpoena setbacks and lack of evidence linking the ‘God’s Plan’ rapper to the murder, he would not have to provide a deposition.
Addressing Padilla, Usan angrily questioned “What does this have to do with someone who you have no evidence of being involved other than hearsay and innuendo?…You are now trying to just drag somebody in who’s a celebrity who does not want to be associated with this. And the harm to that individual is not inconsequential.” Shortly after his spectacle of frustration, Usan dismissed the motion resulting in a win for Drake concerning this case. You can read more about the Canadian rapper’s strange involvement in this case in the video below.
