A jury has convicted three people in the murder of rapper XXXTentacion. WGN Radio 720

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three men were charged Monday in the murder of star rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot during a $50,000 robbery outside a South Florida bike shop in 2018. Convicted of murder.

Michael Boatwright, 28, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsom, 24, were also accused of armed robbery by the jury, which delivered its verdict less than an hour into the eighth day of deliberations. was convicted of

Their ruling, set on April 6 by Circuit Court Judge Michael Woosan, will be largely a formality. Florida law provides life imprisonment for first-degree murder convictions.

The defendants, two in suits and one in a button-down shirt, showed little emotion as they stood one by one to be handcuffed by the bailiffs. No reaction was heard from family members or other observers in court. Before the verdict was read out, Usan warned that anyone causing any kind of disturbance would be held in contempt of court.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office thanked the jury and prosecutors in a statement, but said it would not comment further pending the verdict.

Williams’ attorney, Mauricio Padilla, told the Associated Press that he didn’t feel his client got a fair trial. said he was prohibited from dismissing A phone message was left for lawyers representing Boatwright and Newsom.

“From the day the jury was deliberating, it was clear they had questions and I wish I could have properly defended my client,” Padilla said in an email.

During the month-long trial, prosecutors linked Boatwright, Williams and Newsom to the June 18, 2018 shooting outside Riva Motorsports outside Fort Lauderdale. hours after the murder.

Prosecutors also obtained testimony from a fourth man, Robert Allen, a former friend of the defendant who said he took part in the robbery. He has not been sentenced pending the conclusion of this trial. He says his time in prison, which means he could be released soon, and his life, depends in part on how much weight prosecutors give his assistance. could go anywhere between

Defense attorneys accused Allen of being a liar motivated by a desire to avoid a life sentence. It said it conducted a poor investigation that did not examine the suspect. He and he XXXTentacion feuded online.

Boatwright was identified as the primary shooter. Twice last week, jurors were asked to review 17 text messages prosecutors sent to various people from around 10:30 a.m. when they woke up to 3 p.m., about an hour before the shooting. After that he stopped texting for about two hours.

About an hour after the shooting, Boatwright texted, “Tell my brother I got money for a new phone.” Minutes later, he sent someone a screenshot of a news story that XXXTentacion had been shot, prosecutors said.

XXXTentacion, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy, was leaving Riva Motorsports with a friend when an SUV drove past him and blocked his BMW.

Surveillance video showed two masked gunmen confronting the 20-year-old singer in the driver’s window, with one shooting him repeatedly. I grabbed my Louis Vuitton bag full of cash and rushed back to my SUV. My friend was not hurt.

Newsom was accused of being another shooter. Williams was the driver of the SUV and Allen was accused of being inside the vehicle.

Allen testified that the men left that day to commit a robbery and went to a bike shop to buy Williams a mask. Allen and Williams went inside the store and confirmed it was him. According to testimony, they then returned to his rented SUV, waited for XXXTentacion to appear, and ambushed him.

The rapper, who pronounced his name “Ex ex ex ten-ta-see-YAWN,” was a platinum-selling rising star who addressed issues like prejudice and depression with his songs. He also drew criticism for bad behavior and multiple arrests, including accusations of severely beating and abusing his girlfriend.

This story was edited to correct that the jury asked for a text message from Boatwright last week instead of this week.

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Associated Press reporter Terry Spencer contributed to this report.