Drake’s armed guards reportedly physically refused a subpoena when the Toronto rapper was asked to testify in XXXTENTACION’s ongoing murder trial.
The 6 God was deposed on February 12 and his lawyers immediately filed a new motion claiming there was no connection between Drake and X’s 2018 shooting death. The motion came days after a Florida judge ordered Drizzy appear for a deposition by February 24.
“It is both unreasonable and oppressive to subpoena an out-of-state party who has not been mentioned in any reports, any investigation, or referenced to have any involvement in this matter,” Drake’s attorney Bradford M. Cohen wrote in the filing.
“To mandate that he appear for deposition for something that he very clearly has no relevant knowledge of is unreasonable,” Cohen added, while also arguing Drake was not properly served and therefore would not respond to any demands to appear.
However, the defense claimed in a new filing on February 14 that they did attempt to serve Drizzy a subpoena at his California residence but they were immediately “greeted by armed guards who refused to accept service.”
The process server reportedly left the subpoena on Drake’s doorstep, and the armed guards responded by “literally” kicking the motion down his long driveway while saying “nobody is being served here.”
“Apparently Drake’s staff believes that physically kicking the subpoena is a legally sound way of refusing service,” the filing reads.
LATEST MOTION in @Drake deposition saga in the #XXXTentacion murder trial. Defense says when attempting service of subpoena, "The process server was greeted by armed guards who refused to accept service." They contend the guards literally kicked the subpoena down the driveway. pic.twitter.com/4VXWRj5FJ4
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 20, 2023
LATEST MOTION includes a conversation between process server and @Drake's security guards when attempting to serve subpoena in #XXXTentacion murder case: pic.twitter.com/z7a0IWyCxQ
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 20, 2023
This latest news comes a few days after Robert Allen — one of XXXTENTACION’s accused killers — denied that Drake was involved in the murder, and said he never spoke to or attempted to contact the OVO hitmaker.
Allen, who agreed to testify against his co-defendants after pleading guilty to lesser charges in 2022, told the court last week that he didn’t even know X was a famous rapper the time of his murder.
His testimony was delivered as a series of “yes” and “no” answers while he was being cross-examined by Mauricio Padilla, the defense attorney for suspect Dedrick Williams.
Drake’s attorney Bradford Cohen then argued last week that the court had no relevant information to bring his client in, which Judge Michael A. Usan ultimately agreed with. He signed off on Drake’s motion to have the deposition dismissed.
If convicted, the three suspects charged with X’s murder — Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams and Trayvon Newsome — could face life in prison. Authorities believe Boatwright was the assailant who ultimately fired the fatal shots at the “SAD!” rapper.
Drake is not the only high-profile Hip Hop figure the defense has attempted to bring into the case, having also listed Quavo, Joe Budden and 6ix9ine as potential witnesses.
[via]
