The three men convicted of murdering rising rap star XXXTentacion during a 2018 robbery in South Florida were sentenced to life in prison Thursday.
Dedrick Williams, Michael Boatwright and Trayvon Newsome appeared in a Broward County courtroom, where Judge Michael Usan handed down the mandatory life sentences.
“You’ll spend every hour and week and year in your cell. And one day you have passed on, and on that day you would’ve served your sentence,” Usan said.
Solomon Sobande, the manager for the rapper whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, read a statement on behalf of the family during Thursday’s sentencing. He lamented the fact that XXXTentacion never got to meet his son, who was born seven months after the killing.
“This is a loss we will never truly recover from,” Sobande said. “We will never get to see Jahseh live to his full potential, we will never get to watch him grow old, we will never get to watch him be a father.”
“I prayed each of you would be given the death penalty for what you’ve done,” said the rapper’s grand aunt, Melody Jones. “Whatever hole you are sent I hope you rot there.”
Prosecutors had not sought the death penalty. The three men will have no chance for parole or early release for good behavior.
A jury of five men and seven women convicted the three men on first-degree murder and armed robbery last month, following six days of deliberations.
XXXTentacion had just left Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale on June 18, 2018, with a friend when his BMW was blocked by an SUV that swerved in front.
