Three Florida men were sentenced to life in prison Thursday in the 2018 murder of rapper XXXTentacion.
In a Broward County courtroom, Judge Michael A. Usan handed down life sentences without the possibility of parole to Trayvon Newsome, 24, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Michael Boatwright, 28. The sentencing comes weeks after the three men were convicted in the June 18, 2018, incident in which they robbed and then fatally shot the 20-year-old rapper outside a motorsports shop in South Florida.
“You’ll spend every hour, and every day, and every week and every year of your life in that cell,” Usan said. “And one day they’ll come and open up that cell in the morning and you’ll have passed on, and only on that day will you have served your sentence.”
During Thursday’s sentencing, XXXTentacion’s manager, Solomon Sobande, said the late rapper (real name Jahseh Onfroy) was “senselessly murdered.”
“This is a loss we will never truly recover from,” he said on behalf of the Onfroy family. Sobande said he and the rapper’s loved ones would never have the chance to see Onfroy grow older or be a father to his son, who was born several months after the rapper’s death.
Also speaking in court Thursday was the musician’s great-aunt, Melody Jones, who criticized Newsome, Williams and Boatwright for their lack of emotion during the trial.
“You guys showed no empathy to the family you destroyed with your evil, callous deeds,” she said. “We, the family, ask why? Why kill him?”
She added: “Whatever time you’re given and whichever hole you are sent, I hope it is hell.”
