A Broward County judge ruled Friday that rapper Drake, born Ashley Graham, will not be deposed by defense attorneys in the XXXTentacion murder trial due to lack of evidence of his involvement in the 2018 killing, per NBC Miami.
The judge’s decision comes several days after a defense attorney claimed process servers were rebuffed by armed guards at the rapper’s Beverly Hills mansion last week. On Monday, Drake’s lawyer Bradford Cohen had asked the court to strike an order to require Drake to sit for a deposition.
The deposition was sought by Mauricio Padilla, a defense attorney for Dedrick Williams (one of the three suspects in the case), who suggested that Graham was somehow involved in XXXTentacion’s (real name Jahseh Onfroy) death. Padilla declined to comment after Friday’s decision.
Drake’s alleged involvement is not a theory prosecutors have given credence to, but Padilla attempted to raise doubts by highlighting an alleged feud between Graham and XXXTentacion.
Along with trying to get Graham to participate in a deposition, Padilla referenced the alleged feud between the two musicians in his opening arguments on Feb. 7. He cited a social media post from Onfroy in Feb. 2018 that read, “If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi [Drake’s Instagram handle]. I’m snitching right now.” The post was deleted and retracted soon after.
According to a Feb. 17 filing from Padilla, obtained by Rolling Stone, the judge said Cohen and Padilla would have to “work together to mutually agree to a time that was convenient to Mr. Graham, agree on parameters for topics discussed at deposition and even stated that he would consider sealing the deposition.”
However, Drake’s attorneys have long argued that he has no involvement in the case. “At this point, I think you have a corroborating witness who corroborates that Mr. Graham has nothing to do with this case,” Cohen said in a previous hearing, per NBC Miami.
Drake’s attorney declined to comment.
Three men are currently on trial for the murder of XXXTentacion. If convicted of first-degree murder, Dedrick Williams, Michael Boatwright, and Trayvon Newsome could all receive life sentences. Last week, a man named Robert Allen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against the three remaining suspects.