In a case that has garnered widespread attention, Zachary Stoddard, the young boy featured on the cover art of XXXTentacion’s hit single Look at Me!, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder.
On May 10, 2024, Judge John J. Murphy III in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sentenced imprisonment to Stoddard for attempting second-degree murder on his friend Keith Tatton in 2019.
Zachary Stoddard reportedly stabbed his friend over a conflict that happened, leaving him behind for a restaurant. As reported by XXL, the victim was rushed to hospital and survived the injuries.
XXXTentacion was an American rapper and singer-songwriter and a same-city resident of Stoddard. The rapper candidly featured Stoddard as artwork for his single, which was released in 2015. In 2018, as per BBC, the rapper XXX was shot dead outside a Florida motorcycle shop while being robbed of $50,000 in cash.
Why Zachary Stoddard was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment?
Zachary Stoddard, who gained notoriety as a child model when his image was used for the cover art of the XXX track, found himself in legal trouble after being involved in a violent altercation that resulted in charges of attempted murder.
According to police reports in XXL publication, the incident occurred on April 27, 2019, when Stoddard, who was 16, found himself engaged in an argument when he was not taken along with his associates to a restaurant. The argument heated up and Zachary Stoddard stabbed the victim multiple times.
As a result, Stoddard was arrested under charges of battery, a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, and attempted murder.
The case’s final hearing was given on May 10, 2024, by Judge John J. Murphy III, confirmed by XXL on May 16, 2024, with the Broward State Attorney’s Office that Zachary Stoddard has been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.
The report further suggests that Stoddard will serve two years in house arrest after release from prison, followed by three years of probation.
As per CBS, in a Broward courtroom in 2019, the father of the victim, Michael Tatton, suggested that his son was severely injured and “died four times” in the hospital bed —
“He’s severely brain-damaged, dealing with a lot of physical injuries, after all, he died four times at the hospital. He received about 10 surgeries now, open heart, 70-75 blood transfusions. He’s lucky to be alive.”
CBS News reports from the courtroom further heard that Zachary Stoddard was strangling a girl in Keith’s car. However, Stoddard’s lawyer stated it was Keith who was strangling his client.
Prosecutors argued and suggested that there was no evidence of Keith strangling Stoddard. Also, Michael said that his son was pulling Zachary Stoddard off when he was allegedly strangling a girl and was unaware that he had a knife —
“My son was just pulling him off of the girl he was strangling. He didn’t know the boy had a knife in his pocket. Myoson got hit in his aorta and femoral artery and was left there to die and he was taunted by this man.”
During the hearing, Stoddard, Michael’s family, friends, and his mother asked to reduce the bond, which was $250,000. His mother said in court that she is in debt and cannot afford the bond amount.
How are Zachary Stoddard and XXXTentacion related?
Stoddard appeared in an art cover for XXXTentacion’s single Look At Me! 2015. The late rapper and Stoddard were both from the same city.
In 2020, Stoddard told Complex that he sent his photo to a group chat as a joke, and XXX as a member of the group said he was using this as a cover. Zachary Stoddard suggested the rapper was not famous back then, so he took it casually —
“I was smoking, and I just put it in my nose, took a picture, and sent it to the group chat as a joke. We were just playing, and X was like, ‘I’m going to use this as my next song cover. He wasn’t big or anything back then, so I didn’t really think nothing of it.”
The song became a hit instantly, and today it has over 600 million views on YouTube.
As per XXL, Zachary Stoddard is also a rapper who released several songs in early 2019 before his arrest.
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