One of XXXTentacion's killers cites his inability to bring evidence implicating Drake to his murder appeal.
Dedrick Williams cites Drake's evidence in Appeal
On November 29, the trial attorney for convicted XXXTentacion killer Dedrick Williams, Mauricio Padilla, appeared on the Law&Crime Network to discuss Williams' recently filed appeal. During the interview, which you can watch below, Padilla explains Williams' complaints, which involved evidence of Drake's possible involvement that was not allowed during the trial.
“In December 2020, I filed a witness list,” Padilla says around the five-minute mark of the video below. “The state's response to that was to file a motion saying, 'We want the court to strike all of its witnesses.' This is not something that is legal or something you can do.
“Before [XXXTentacion] When he was murdered, he posted on Instagram: “If someone kills me, I'm freaking out right now. Of [Drake].'” Padilla continued. “I'm paraphrasing, but something about this…I wrote in extreme detail my entire defense witness list, which included a lot of rappers. At the end of the day, the victim in this case was a rapper. He's had ongoing public feuds not only with Drake, but with rappers who are signed to OVO or related to Drake in some way.”
Padilla says Williams' appeals attorneys aren't specifically arguing that Drake pulled the trigger, but that the trial was unfair because the evidence wasn't allowed.
“A defendant has every right to defend himself and show reasonable doubt wherever he is and to fully investigate and articulate to a jury an alternative shooter defense or a defense that someone else committed this crime,” Padilla added. “I'm going to sit here and tell you that Drake had the gun … but the facts as stated by X's mother herself is that she knew about the beef with Drake.”
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The lawyer argues unsuccessfully for Drake's possible involvement
Last February, Drake was initially ordered to appear for a deposition in the XXXTentacion murder trial after Padilla reported XXX's social media post about Drake impeaching him. However, Drake's attorney Bradford Cohen was able to successfully overturn the move and Drizzy didn't have to get involved.
Dedrick Williams, Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome were found guilty of first degree murder and robbery in connection with the July 2018 robbery and murder of XXX last March. The trio were sentenced to life in prison last April.
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Watch Dedrick Williams' trial lawyer discuss Williams on Drake's call below.
