Drake’s lawyers have requested that a judge withdraw the order requiring the rapper to appear for a deposition associated with the murder trial of rapper XXXTentacion.
According to the prosecution, on Jun. 18, 2018, four men: Dedrick Williams, Trayvon Newsome, Michael Boatwright, and Robert Allen, intended to rob individuals near Riva Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, where XXX just so happened to be.
However, some fans speculated that the murder and robbery were somehow related to “beefs” XXX had with other rappers, including Drake and Migos.
Since this was a crime of opportunity and not a part of a conspiracy to assassinate the young rapper, prosecutors said they had no reason to think Drake or Migos were involved in the murder.
Before the start of the murder trial, Mauricio Padilla, an attorney for Williams, said several times that Drake was a possible angle for a defense and asked the court to compel him to testify.
In response to Padilla’s request, Judge Michael Usan was hesitant but allowed Padilla to serve Drake with deposition papers and said that he might order Drake to appear if he ignored them.
However, last week, Judge Usan issued an order stating that “as a result of Aubrey Drake Graham’s failure to appear for the deposition set on Jan. 27, 2023, Aubrey Drake Graham shall appear for deposition at 5:00 pm EST on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.” If ignored, he will have to appear in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom on Monday, Feb. 27, to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court.
An attorney for Drake replied by opposing the court order, pointing to the improper service of the paperwork and the lack of evidence “to substantiate the assertion that (Drake) in any way contributed to, had knowledge of, or participated in the alleged incident.”
It continues by saying that mandating “he appear for something that he very clearly has no relevant knowledge of is unreasonable.”
Monday morning, Drake’s attorney Brad Cohen appeared in court and argued that the deposition subpoena wasn’t served correctly and also argued that Drake had nothing to do with XXXTentacion‘s murder. However, according to Law & Crime reporter Cathy Russon, the judge told him to get with the defense and arrange the deposition.
