Drake's lawyer argued that a deposition would be “unreasonable and oppressive”, after the rapper was ordered to appear in court in relation to XXXtentacion's murder trial last week

A Florida judge has ruled that won’t need to be deposed in relation to the murder of , after the rapper’s lawyers argued it was “unreasonable” for him to be drawn into the case. 

Last week, Drake was in connection with the ongoing murder trial. While prosecutors have never claimed that Drake was implicated in the rapper’s 2018 death, a defence attorney for one of the three murder suspects previously tabled Drake’s alleged involvement as an alternative theory to XXXTentacion’s killing.

Mauricio Padilla, the defence attorney for suspect Dedrick Williams, cited an alleged feud between Drake and XXXtentacion (real name Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy) dating back to 2018. In his opening arguments on February 7, Padilla referenced a social media post from Onfroy that read, “If anyone tries to kill me it was [Drake]. I’m snitching right now.”

Onfroy later deleted the post and told his followers not “to [entertain] that bullshit on Twitter.” The rapper said the post was part of an apparent hack. Elsewhere, in court filings submitted last December (per ), Padilla referenced Drake’s 2017 song ‘KMT’, which Onfroy believed was stolen from him, according to the court filings.

Drake’s alleged ties to several people with gang affiliations were also referenced in the filings, as well as quotes from a deposition given by Onfroy’s mother, Cleopatra Bernard, in which she recalled her concerns over son’s “ongoing battle with Drake.

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