Drake won’t be deposed in XXXTentacion’s murder trial.
A judge has granted Drake’s motion to avoid a deposition after a previous court order called for him to sit and answer questions about his 2017 beef with the late rapper.
Mauricio Padilla, the defense attorney for suspect Dedrick Williams, persuaded the judge that it was necessary for Drake to be deposed, arguing that he may have had a motive for killing X.
“Before X died, he said, ‘If anybody kills me, it’s Drake,'” Padilla told jurors during opening statements of the trial. “Do you think sitting here years later, any detective has ever asked Drake or anybody like that? No.”
XXXTentacion once said on Instagram that if he ever ended up dead, Drake was the reason. He later deleted the post and said he had been hacked.
“IF ANYBODY TRIES TO KILL ME IT WAS @champagnepapi IM SNITCHING RN,” X wrote in an Instagram Story.
Drake was scheduled to be deposed via Zoom on Feb. 24. According to TMZ, his attorney, Bradford Cohen, told the court that Drake has no relevant information to add to the case and the judge ultimately agreed.
Prosecutors say the shooting was the result of a robbery gone wrong, and there is no evidence linking Drake to X’s murder. However, it’s still possible that Padilla could convince a judge that there’s another reason Drake should be deposed.
XXXTentacion was killed after leaving Riva Motorsports in Fort Lauderdale on June 18, 2018. Williams, along with Michael Boatwright and Trayvon Newsome, are facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the deadly shooting. If convicted, all three men face life in prison.