Michael Boatwright: XXXTentacion Trial, Sentence, and Appeal

September 9, 2026

Michael Boatwright is the Florida man a Broward County jury identified as the gunman who shot and killed rapper XXXTentacion outside a Deerfield Beach motorcycle dealership on June 18, 2018. He was convicted of first-degree murder and armed robbery in March 2023, sentenced to life in prison without parole plus a consecutive 30 years, and lost his appeal in July 2025.

His Role in the Killing

Boatwright was one of four men who set out on the afternoon of June 18, 2018 intending to commit robberies, according to trial testimony from cooperating co-defendant Robert Allen. The group stopped at Riva Motorsports so ringleader Dedrick Williams could buy a mask. Inside the shop they spotted Jahseh Onfroy, the 20-year-old rapper known as XXXTentacion, who had earlier that day withdrawn $50,000 in cash and was carrying it in a Louis Vuitton bag. Williams and Allen walked past Onfroy to confirm his identity, then returned to a rented Dodge Journey SUV to wait.¹

When Onfroy tried to leave the parking lot in his BMW, the SUV blocked his path. Two masked gunmen got out. One held Onfroy’s uncle at gunpoint inside the BMW. The other, identified at trial as Boatwright, demanded Onfroy’s gold chain, struggled with him for roughly 45 seconds, shot him multiple times, and took the bag containing the cash. Onfroy died at the scene.²

Prosecutors described a clear division of labor among the four charged men: Williams drove, Boatwright was the primary shooter, Trayvon Newsome was the second armed gunman, and Allen stayed in the SUV.³

The Evidence Against Him

The state’s case against Boatwright rested on several strands of evidence. Allen, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in August 2022 and testified over four days, identified Boatwright directly as the person who fired the fatal shots. Allen also told the jury that Boatwright was a gang member whose occupation was “robbing people.”⁴

Forensic evidence placed Boatwright with the getaway vehicle. His fingerprints were found on the exterior of the SUV, and his DNA was recovered from a mask found inside it.⁴ Cell phone and Bluetooth records placed the defendants’ phones near Riva Motorsports at the time of the shooting and linked them to the SUV.² Surveillance video from inside and outside the dealership captured the suspects walking past Onfroy, the SUV blocking his BMW, and the robbery itself.⁵ Cell phone videos taken hours after the killing showed the defendants flashing $100 bills.⁶

A member of the Multi-Agency Gang Task Force also identified Boatwright as an affiliate of the Zoe Mafia Family, a South Florida Haitian street gang known as ZMF that operates across Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties.⁷

His Defense

Boatwright’s attorney, Joseph Kimok, built the defense around DNA that did not match his client. Kimok told jurors that DNA recovered from Onfroy’s body and from a stolen necklace did not match Boatwright, Newsome, or Williams. “Whoever XXXTentacion struggled with is not in this courtroom,” he argued. “The DNA proves that someone not named Michael Boatwright or Trayvon Newsome participated in this murder.”⁸

The defense also attacked Robert Allen as a career criminal with a motive to fabricate testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence, and argued detectives had failed to pursue other potential suspects.² Prosecutor Pascale Achille responded that the absence of the defendants’ DNA at the scene did not exclude them, since they had time to dispose of masks, guns, and clothing. Defending the reliance on Allen, she told the jury, “Plans that are hatched in hell do not have angels for witnesses.”⁷

Conviction and Sentence

After roughly seven days of deliberation, the jury convicted Boatwright, Williams, and Newsome on March 20, 2023 of first-degree murder and armed robbery. The jury specifically found that Boatwright possessed and discharged a firearm during the offenses.⁴

Prosecutors had not sought the death penalty, so first-degree murder carried a mandatory life sentence. On April 6, 2023, Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan sentenced Boatwright to life in prison without the possibility of parole or early release, plus an additional 30 years to be served consecutively for the armed robbery.⁹ Addressing the three defendants, Usan said, “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.”³

The Appeal

Boatwright appealed to Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, raising several issues: the trial court’s refusal to sever his case from his co-defendants, the denial of motions to suppress DNA, fingerprint, and cell phone evidence, limits on cross-examining Allen, the admission of gang-related testimony, and the admission of testimony from Williams’ girlfriend Tennell Carter, who told the jury Williams admitted to her on the night of the shooting that he had gone to Riva Motorsports with three others and witnessed the robbery and shooting.¹⁰

The severance argument was the core of the appeal. Boatwright contended that hearing Carter relay Williams’ incriminating statements violated his Confrontation Clause rights under Bruton v. United States. The appellate court disagreed. Applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Samia v. United States, the court held that because Carter’s testimony had been redacted to remove any direct reference to Boatwright and did not facially name him, it fell outside Bruton‘s prohibition. The statements were also admissible under Florida’s hearsay exception for statements by a party opponent.¹¹

The court added that any error would have been harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, because Allen’s direct testimony identifying Boatwright as the shooter made Carter’s account “merely cumulative.” On July 9, 2025, the Fourth District affirmed Boatwright’s conviction and life sentence in full.¹¹

Where the Other Three Stand

Williams and Newsome were sentenced alongside Boatwright to mandatory life without parole for first-degree murder.³ Allen, the cooperating witness who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed robbery, was sentenced by Judge Usan on May 17, 2023 to seven years in state prison, with credit for the five years he had already served, followed by 20 years of probation. Beyond his trial testimony, Allen also gave detectives information that helped establish probable cause in an unrelated cold case involving another ZMF member.¹

1
The Hill. 4th XXXTentacion Killer Gets Reduced Sentence After Taking Plea Deal
2
Courthouse News Service. Lawyer: DNA Proves XXXTentacion’s Alleged Killer’s Innocence
3
NBC Miami. Three Convicted in South Florida Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion Sentenced to Life in Prison
4
Findlaw. Michael Boatwright v. State of Florida
5
NBC Miami. Shocking Video Showing Killing of Rapper XXXTentacion Played at Suspects Murder Trial
6
NPR. Three Men Found Guilty of Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion
7
Miami Herald. XXXTentacion Trial Closing Arguments
8
NBC Miami. Jury Deliberations Begin After Lawyer Says DNA Proves XXXTentacion’s Alleged Killers’ Innocence
9
CBS News Miami. Three Suspects Convicted in Murder of XXXTentacion Face Sentencing
10
WSVN. XXXTentacion’s Convicted Killers Sentenced to Life in Prison
11
Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal. Opinion in Boatwright v. State of Florida, No. 4D2023-0975