UPDATED 2/14, 7:30 p.m. ET: The judge in XXXTentacion’s murder trial has ruled that Drake is not required to give a deposition, remotely or otherwise.
TMZ reports Drake’s legal team convinced Judge Michael A. Usan to throw out an attempt to subpoena the Toronto rapper. Usan recently signed off on the request, which comes after the legal team for Dedrick Williams—one of three suspects on trial—submitted a court order asking for Drake to share details purportedly pertaining to the 2018 killing of XXXTentacion.
According to Drake’s attorney Bradford Cohen, his client has no “relevant information” to add to the trial. Judge Usan agreed.
See original story below.
Drake’s legal team has responded after it was reported that he was being sought for a deposition in the trial over the 2018 murder of XXXTentacion.
On Monday, Jon Blistein reported for Rolling Stone that Drake’s lawyers had responded to both the original subpoena and a recently reported order from a judge. Crucially, Drake’s team is calling the subpoena efforts “unreasonable and oppressive” for a number of reasons, including (perhaps most notably) the fact that Drake has not been named in “any investigation” in connection with the fatal shooting.
“No evidence has been provided to substantiate the assertion that [Graham] in any way contributed to, had knowledge of, or participated in the alleged incident and to mandate that he appear for deposition for something that he very clearly has no relevant knowledge of is unreasonable,” Drake’s lawyers said, per court filings cited in Monday’s report.
In short, a lawyer representing one of the three suspects in XXXTentacion’s murder had first attempted to subpoena Drake in January. Shortly after, a judge granted an order that would require Drake to appear for a deposition later this month.
As for why Drake is being mentioned at all, Jessica McKinney recently broke down this facet of the case for Complex. Read the full piece here. Oft-mentioned (including in opening statements from the suspect’s defense attorney) is a later-removed social media post from XXXTentacion that read, “If anybody kills me, it’s Drake.” X later said he had been hacked.
As for prosecutors, they have not expressed support for the attempted Drake connection from the defense. It’s also worth pointing out that surveillance video and phone data do not suggest that any alternate theory being floated is likely.
In June 2018, XXXTentacion was shot multiple times outside RIVA Motorsports in Florida. Following an investigation, four men were charged in connection with the murder. One of those men, Robert Allen, was revealed to have struck a plea deal last August. As part of that agreement, he testified against the remaining three suspects: Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome, and Dedrick Williams.
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