Days after Drake was subpoenaed by a Florida judge in XXXTentacion’s murder trial to sit for a deposition or appear in court if he does not comply, the Canadian rapper’s legal team is firing back at the thought process.
“It is both unreasonable and oppressive to subpoena an out-of-state party who has not been mentioned in any reports, any investigation, or referenced to have any involvement in this matter,” Drake’s attorney Bradford M. Cohen wrote in response, according to Billboard. “To mandate that he appear for deposition for something that he very clearly has no relevant knowledge of is unreasonable.”
Four men — Dedrick Williams, Trayvon Newsome, Michael Boatwright, and Robert Allen — are currently charged with the murder. However, Williams’ lawyer, Mauricio Padilla, included Drake on his witness list back in December. Prior to XXXTentacion’s death, he had also posted on Instagram in 2018, “If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi,” tagging Drake directly before eventually deleting the Story.
Drake was originally scheduled to sit for a deposition back in January, but didn’t show up. Because of this, he’s since been required to appear by February 24 or will be held in “contempt of court,” according to the publication.
His team has since claimed that Drake was not only improperly subpoenaed, but that the legal move also seems like an attention-grab.
“It would appear, based on the names mentioned on the witness list filed by defendant’s counsel, that the intent to subpoena [Drake] is less for the purpose of discovering relevant evidence and testimony, but instead add more layers of celebrity and notoriety to a tragic and unfortunate event,” his lawyers added.
Padilla did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment about Drake’s response to his deposition filing.
