Drake dodged a bullet after a judge presiding over the XXXTentacion trial granted that he is not needed to be deposed as one of the suspect's lawyers initially requested.
According to ABC News, the defense is arguing that prosecutors are not looking into the possibility of Drake's involvement in the murder of XXXTentacion.
Drake and XXXTentacion were involved in a feud way back. In a now-deleted Instagram story, the slain rapper posted that if anybody killed him, "it was Drake."
Because of this, the defense attorney of the suspect, Dedrick Williams, Mauricio Padilla, decided to push the idea of the involvement of Drake in the XXXTentacion murder trial.
Drake, XXXTentacion Murder Trial
Last January, Judge Michael Usan decided that Drake should show up to the deposition, even giving him an ultimatum to appear.
However, in a stunning turn of events, Usan has ultimately decided that Drake appearing in the XXXTentacion Murder trial is unnecessary, AllHipHop reports.
Drake's attorney, Bradford Cohen, countered the defense's argument at the time, saying that there was a lack of foundation for adding the mega rapper to the already high-profile trial.
In a video shared by Law & Crime last Feb. 13, 2023, Cohen elaborated that even though Padilla sent them a Zoom link for the deposition, he did not seal it, and he failed to provide instructions on how the interview should be conducted.
Per Cohen, the subpoena they're trying to issue to his client, Drake, was "procedurally defective."
More so, Drake's involvement in the XXXTentacion murder trial was blurry. His camp also emphasized that the "Passionfruit" rapper's name was never mentioned on the investigative files until only after Padilla convinced the court to look into him to shift the focus to his client.
Cohen also called the deposition an attempt to add more "layers of celebrity and notoriety" to the already tragic and unfortunate event.
XXXTentacion Murder Suspects
According to the publication, three suspects are being looked into as XXXTentacion's murder suspects - Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome, and Dedrick Williams. A fourth suspect, Robert Allen, turned against his co-suspects to help the prosecution in exchange for a plea deal.
XXXTentacion, formally known as Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, was gunned down in 2018 as he was leaving a motorbike shop in Florida, which was believed to have been only a botched robbery.
READ ALSO: XXXTentacion Final Moments: Defendant Reveals He Was Hesitant About Robbery, Murder Plans
