Three men have been issued a life sentence after being charged with the murder of the American rapper XXXTentacion. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was shot dead while being robbed outside a Florida motorbike shop back in 2018.
Trayvon Newsome, 24, Michael Boatwright, 28, and Dedrick Williams, 26, were found guilty last month of first-degree murder and armed robbery following a lengthy trial. The State of Florida does have the death penalty, but the three convicts were spared capital punishment in favour of prison time. The three reportedly showed very little emotion as they exited the courtroom in handcuffs.
In 2018, XXXTentacion was murdered as he left a motorbike shop with a friend. An SUV stopped suddenly in front of the rapper to block his BMW. A masked gunman shot him repeatedly before the group grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag containing cash he had withdrawn from the bank and fled the scene.
CCTV footage from inside and outside Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale linked Boatwright, Williams and Newsome to the incident. The jury was also shown mobile phone footage taken by the assailants of themselves showing off handfuls of $100 notes just hours after the murder.
A fourth perpetrator, Robert Allen, admitted that he took part in the robbery, pleading guilty last year to second-degree murder. He is yet to be sentenced. In the recent trial, Boatwright was identified as the primary gunman, while Newsome was accused of being a secondary gunman. Williams had been the driver of the SUV.
