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  • 19/05/2025
When a shocking crime is committed in broad daylight that leaves a young man dead on the street, the investigation uncovers a personal vendetta. In exclusive prison interviews, the killer couple will each share their version of events.
Transcript
00:00I get a phone call and say, you need to check on your son. I think he just got shot. Once
00:24they came in and told me that my son didn't make it, that was it for me. I just broke
00:30down crying like I just couldn't stop. The aunt brought forward the Facebook live video
00:38showing that these are the two people that need to be looked at as far as killing her
00:45nephew. She was claiming to be his Bonnie and calling him her Clyde.
01:05I don't know any time of killing. I didn't even know he was dead until she showed me.
01:09He was like, we in this together, you ain't going nowhere, and you can't never leave my
01:13side. I am posting all this stuff on Facebook. You talking about like why he posting saying
01:19we dead? Yeah. I don't know, Hakeem is crazy. My name is Hakeem Griffin White. I have a
01:29lot of regrets, like I wish I could just take it all back. My name is Ashley Coleman
01:36and with this show, what do you want us to say under your name? A victim.
01:44It's 2.40 p.m. on March 2nd, 2017. In the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, a
02:07flurry of calls flood 911 dispatchers. Shots fired in Oak Cliff are definitely not uncommon.
02:29It's something that unfortunately residents in that area probably see or hear every day.
02:36The Oak Cliff area is poverty stricken. Gangs, different things, killings every day. You
02:44can say it's like any other hood or whatever, you know what I'm saying? As a crowd gathers
02:51around the victim, a bystander pulls out their phone and starts recording.
03:12When first responders arrived, they saw a young man in the street who had collapsed.
03:19He had been shot in broad daylight. He was in pretty bad shape. He had already lost a
03:27lot of blood. The recording continues as EMTs fight to save the victim's life. As he's
03:36rushed to the hospital, the video is shared online where he's identified as 19-year-old
03:42Drake Heaston Alex. The news quickly spreads throughout the community, including to Drake
03:51Heaston's mother a few miles away. I get a phone call and say, you need to check on
04:00your son. I think he just got shot. And instantly, whatever I was doing, I stopped. I jumped
04:10in the car. As I'm driving, I get a video online. It was him on a stretcher and his
04:21head was just, you know, hanging from the stretcher. So I was like, Lord, I just start
04:28praying extra hard that he be okay. He was shot in the left hip and a major artery was
04:37hit and severed with that one shot. He had actually lost a lot of blood. And so he was
04:44dead on arrival by the time that his body made it to the hospital. I headed to the hospital.
04:53Once they came in and told me that my son didn't make it, that was it for me. I just
05:01knelt down to my knees because I knew my baby had been gone. And I just broke down
05:12crying like I just couldn't stop. To have to deal with that, that was the worst day
05:20of my life. To his large and loving family, Drake Easton Alex always held the title of
05:32entertainer. It was never a dull moment with him. You could be having a bad day and he
05:39coming in and he's going to do something funny to her. You know, you forget about what you
05:43was mad about. You know, he was that type of person. During high school, Dre's talents
05:52soared as a standout football player and a budding performer. Dre was a great athlete,
05:59musically inclined, wanted to be a rapper. He most definitely wanted to be a rapper.
06:04I didn't know half of the stuff they were saying. I enjoyed it. If that was what he
06:10wanted to do, that was what he wanted to do. I was going to support him. With an athletic
06:17build and an outgoing personality, Dre was also popular with the ladies. It was a smile
06:24for them. At least that's what he said. At least that's what he said. But he's most
06:33definitely a charming little fellow. A romance with Dre's high school sweetheart Taz paved
06:41the way to fatherhood for Dre in 2016. Less than a year later, Dre discovered they'd soon
06:50be welcoming a second child, but his relationship with Taz didn't last. He was just going along
06:58in life, trying to be a successful parent. And Dre had a baby on the way. He was simply
07:07a young man trying to make it and trying to be there for his children. He was a great
07:13father. He loved fatherhood. The little time that he did get, he loved it. But just weeks
07:24before the birth of his second child, Dre's life is suddenly cut short when he's gunned
07:30down in the street by an unknown assailant on March 2nd, 2017. I never pictured myself
07:37not making more memories with my child. I just couldn't believe it. Within an hour of
07:46the shooting, Dallas detectives arrive on the scene. In the totality of scenes that
07:53I've seen, this was actually a very minimal scene as far as evidence. We found two spent
08:00casings and one live one. So we were figuring two rounds shot, but we knew he was only hit
08:07once. I don't know if the gun was perhaps jammed or what the problem is, and that could
08:13have been why the live round was there. The main thing we know is, you know, we need to
08:18collect those casings and then we know what caliber weapon we're looking for. By the time
08:22we got there, there was only one or two witnesses. And then beyond that, there were some people
08:27that heard things, but nobody that really saw anything. People, obviously they heard
08:32the shots, but people are afraid to talk because when people are brazen to do something like
08:38that in broad daylight, what are they going to do to you? They don't want to be the next
08:42victim. It did seem like he was kind of at the wrong place at the wrong time. With somebody
08:48having it out for him though, he was the target, but over what?
09:00Coming up, detectives uncover complicated relationships in their victim's life.
09:06When they showed me who he was, I was like, wait a minute. I know him. Like, I know him
09:13personally. I know this kid. I never even knew no animosity was between them two.
09:21And a toxic romance will soon take center stage.
09:26They both glorified negativity, and they were each other's hype man. You know, they were
09:32hyping each other up. Are they going to go real Bonnie and Clyde and actually like not
09:37go down without a fight?
09:52Dallas police detectives are searching for evidence that may lead them to a suspect in
09:57the shooting death of 19-year-old Drake Easton Alex.
10:02Because it was in the street, kind of near a shopping center and some other businesses,
10:06we were looking for cameras that would capture images of the offense.
10:11While officers make their rounds to nearby establishments asking for footage that may
10:16have captured the shooting, detectives travel to the hospital to gather more information
10:22about Drake Easton from his family members.
10:26I got more background information from the family, which is really significant because
10:31it's what we call victimology, and it helps us have a baseline of where to start in an
10:35investigation.
10:37Dre's mother, she really wasn't able to communicate with me very much. It was just
10:43highly emotionally charged state, which I can't even imagine, you know, losing a child.
10:50Her sister is the one that communicated with me.
10:54Dre's aunt informs detectives that Dre had been on the way to see his former girlfriend
10:59Taz just before the shooting occurred.
11:04I actually had talked to him earlier. He was with his sister. She was dropping him off.
11:12Dre's sister says she dropped him off at a store on Sunnyvale, but insists there was
11:18nothing about the drop-off that led her to believe he was in any kind of trouble.
11:25While I was at the hospital, there was also a girlfriend of Dre's named Ebony who was
11:31there, which is a different person from this other woman, Taz.
11:36She said she was actually on the phone with the victim at the time of the shooting.
11:44So he was going to see Taz is my understanding, but Ebony's on the phone with him.
11:49Romantic relationships, we look at those. We need to address it to figure out any possible
11:55animosity.
11:57So I talked to Ebony. She showed me her phone log to show me what times they were on the
12:02phone. She stayed on the phone with him for about four minutes, and he did tell her on
12:06the phone where he was at. She heard him talking to some unknown person, and they were
12:12arguing, and it was a male voice.
12:15Soon after that, she heard the gunshot, and then he went on the phone.
12:19The phone hung up. She didn't know who he was arguing with, but that's the last time
12:25she heard from him.
12:28When asked if she's aware that Dre was on his way to visit Taz at the time of his death,
12:34Ebony assures detectives that she was aware of their planned meeting.
12:40Nobody had said anything about any hostility necessarily between family members or ex-girlfriends.
12:45So you kind of go down the list of finding out what's your alibi, where were you that
12:50day, and then how can I prove that?
12:58Before detectives can confirm Ebony's alibi, they get word that crucial evidence from the
13:04scene has just come in.
13:07There were several businesses with cameras, so fortunately there was a camera right there
13:13that recorded everything. Having a complete picture is huge in any investigation.
13:21The footage is really important. First of all, it shows the entire shooting, which is
13:25critical because it lays out for us how it happened.
13:30It showed suspect pulling up, showed that there was a driver, showed that the shooter
13:37was the passenger. The passenger approached Dre as he's walking across the street.
13:43Someone approaches him and apparently starts an argument.
13:48The suspect pulled the gun out. You can see Dre then run off, and then you see the shooter
13:55even take time and aim for the follow-up shot.
14:00And then after the shooting, the driver waits for the shooter to get back into the vehicle
14:05and then they leave together.
14:08The driver appeared to be a black female, and we could tell the color of the clothing.
14:14She had a beanie on with a little puffball on top.
14:20The shooter appeared to be a male. As you can tell, very thin build.
14:26They couldn't identify the shooter, but they were able to see specific details about the
14:31getaway vehicle.
14:33The surveillance video captured the red PT Cruiser, which is not like a really common
14:38car to have, and they kind of stand out.
14:42Detectives are unable to read the license plate, so they turn to the public for help.
14:48They were able to do some freeze frames of the footage for that vehicle and put it out
14:54in media, trying to get people to call in if they knew or had seen that particular vehicle.
15:01This vehicle and the people inside of it are the suspects in this murder.
15:18Detectives have uncovered surveillance footage of the exact moment 19-year-old Drake Easton
15:24Alex was gunned down in Dallas, Texas, and of two suspects fleeing the crime scene.
15:33This was a distinct vehicle, you know, this reddish, maroonish PT Cruiser.
15:37Whenever you have a vehicle so specific like that, it really is a gift because there's
15:42only so many, and so I started going through every single report to look if they live in
15:47that area, is there a black female driver or registered owner perhaps, like anything
15:52I can find that can tie me into the right direction.
16:00Meanwhile, Dre's family discovers a crucial piece of evidence and immediately contacts detectives.
16:10There was a social media video that was floating around.
16:14The aunt brought forward the Facebook Live video showing that these are the two people
16:21that I think need to be looked at as far as killing her nephew.
16:33They were bragging about what they were going to do.
16:36They were going to do a shooting.
16:37They didn't say who they were going to shoot specifically.
16:45The timestamp in this video is right before the shooting.
16:49Everything's just fallen into place.
16:51The clothing matches what we see on the video of the offense.
16:54The vehicle, we believe that's the same vehicle.
16:57The interior matches what the inside of a PT Cruiser would be.
17:00There they are with a gun, and they're talking about we're going to go out and we're going to kill people.
17:04While Dre's family can't identify the woman in the video, they tell detectives that the man
17:10is 17-year-old Hakeem Griffin-White.
17:16When they showed me who he was, I was like, wait a minute.
17:21I know him.
17:23Like, I know him personally.
17:25I know this kid.
17:30Growing up in Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood, Hakeem Griffin-White was an introvert by nature.
17:36Hakeem was real charming, but he was quiet for the most part.
17:41He was someone that you were okay with having around, meaning he doesn't come with drama.
17:47I met him while he was young.
17:50He didn't talk too much, but every time I would see him, I would have conversations with him.
17:58He was a calm, just cool kid.
18:02At a young age, Hakeem met Drake Easton, and the two became fast friends.
18:08They was always playing outside, football, running in the street, dancing,
18:14in the house playing the video game, waiting for me to finish cooking,
18:19watching movies, like normal kids.
18:24Normal kids.
18:27We moved away, and they went there, we went here.
18:31That's it.
18:32Well, now everybody's up in age, high school, doing their own thing,
18:37so I haven't seen them since, you know, they was all young kids.
18:42Detectives learned that Drake Easton and Hakeem's friendship had deteriorated as teenagers.
18:49I don't know the incident or what drama took place for them to not become friends.
18:55The only thing that I do remember is whenever Drake did come around,
18:59he was always trying to fight Hakeem.
19:02You would have never known they were cool before that.
19:05The rumor was that this was longstanding beef, and that's kind of how these feuds sometimes linger.
19:11Someone's going to retaliate until they're the bigger person or the winner.
19:17Hakeem fit the physical descriptions of the shooter.
19:20Now there's this video that was going around on Facebook.
19:25Detectives are stunned as the video of Hakeem goes viral.
19:30Social media has really changed the landscape of law enforcement.
19:34It can be very beneficial, but it's also another layer to dig through.
19:42Searching social media, detectives identify the woman in the video
19:46as a local Dallas rapper named Mommy Cash.
19:50You're going to f**k around and get your game back.
19:53Let me tell you about the stockholding, she's really popping, but she's not though.
19:58When we start going through social media,
20:01we start looking for other things through some of your posts,
20:05maybe somebody else's posts, your videos.
20:08There were quite a few people that knew her as Ashley.
20:11Fortunately, there were references to her birthday on there.
20:14We were able to take the name Ashley and cross-reference that with the birthday
20:19and came up with her true name of Ashley Coleman.
20:23The interesting thing I found out about Ashley is that she was 27.
20:27She was quite a bit older than Hakeem, who was 17.
20:31There was kind of a sense of like, okay, they've already done this.
20:35There was kind of a sense of like, okay, they've already done this in broad daylight.
20:39They weren't wearing masks when they did it.
20:42The vehicle was on video.
20:44Are they going to go real Bonnie and Clyde and actually not go down without a fight?
21:00Hours into the murder investigation of Drake Easton Alex,
21:04detectives in Dallas, Texas are searching for two suspects
21:08after a viral video appears to show a local rapper named Ashley Coleman
21:14and Drake Easton's former friend Hakeem Griffin White
21:18making threats moments before the shooting.
21:23It all started coming together.
21:25We found out Ashley has a red PT cruiser.
21:29And at that point, it's almost too good to be true that you have video.
21:33You have her as a registered owner, and they fit the physical descriptions of the suspects.
21:44Authorities continue to monitor social media,
21:47searching for any clues as to where Ashley and Hakeem might be hiding out.
21:53To their surprise, they're both actively posting.
21:58Ashley went on social media saying, that's not my car.
22:00My car looks different.
22:01And Hakeem was saying, that's not me.
22:03That's a different person.
22:04So they knew that they had been caught on camera.
22:08They're trying to appeal to the masses that they're innocent.
22:11So they're going to go back and try to undo the damage they've done.
22:15Ashley is on social media lamenting that I'm not a killer.
22:20I just do that just for social media.
22:22I just do that for my persona, for my image.
22:26Detectives escalate their efforts to locate Ashley and Hakeem.
22:32We're doing research for places she might be staying.
22:37So we do surveillance.
22:39And the next day, we end up finding the PT Cruiser at another family member's house.
22:45They see that the red PT Cruiser is there.
22:48And then this U-Haul truck pulls up.
22:51Then they see Ashley come out of the house.
22:56Ashley's trying to move out.
22:57Ashley's trying to move out.
22:58You know, she's hired someone in a U-Haul truck to move.
23:02And so she's saying she's innocent, but she's already on the lam, so to speak.
23:09We still hadn't seen Hakeem at this point.
23:11We just saw the other individual in the U-Haul.
23:14As authorities keep watch for Hakeem, Ashley suddenly gets in her PT Cruiser and drives away.
23:22Followed by the moving truck.
23:27So they follow her in this U-Haul.
23:32But the U-Haul truck obstructs their view and they lose the car.
23:39We end up losing the PT Cruiser just because it can move a little bit easier than the U-Haul.
23:44And we were able to stay on the U-Haul pretty well.
23:48They pull the U-Haul over.
23:49When you pull over someone who's aiding and abetting a murder in their getaway,
23:54you accord the natural thing that you think they're part of with this weapon.
23:58But the driver insists he doesn't know Ashley or anything about where she might be headed.
24:04He claims he was hired by Ashley and an unidentified man the previous day.
24:11He says they just picked me up at the shelter to help him move and drive this U-Haul.
24:17But while we're working on that, the surveillance team end up finding the PT Cruiser abandoned.
24:24We got a runner.
24:26When someone flees, you lose evidence.
24:29You're going to lose cell phones.
24:30You're going to lose possibly the gun.
24:32You could lose the clothing they were wearing.
24:36While the authorities put out a bolo for the couple,
24:41detectives continue monitoring their social media for any indications about where they may have fled.
24:48Throughout the next few days, they're continuing to post things on their social medias.
24:56She was claiming to be his Bonnie and calling him her Clyde.
25:01To have these individuals who were really just so hell-bent on being bad
25:08and on just putting images out there that were bad was jarring.
25:16If I look tomorrow or the day after, I'm going to be running my eyes, scaring my eyes.
25:21Every time I see you, I turn your leg out.
25:29After seeking leads for three days, police hit Paydirt on March 5th.
25:35We have a really good surveillance team that's really good at staying on the trail
25:38and talking to snitches and things like that
25:40and developing information about where people might be hiding.
25:44And they eventually find them in a hotel just outside of town.
25:47So we've set up surveillance.
26:04Dallas authorities are on the hunt for 27-year-old Ashley Coleman
26:08and 17-year-old Hakeem Griffin-White
26:11as their primary suspects in the death of 19-year-old Drake Heaston Alex
26:17when they locate them in a Dallas-area hotel.
26:21We get the search warrant. We arrest Hakeem and Ashley.
26:26They don't put up much of a fight when they're caught.
26:31They are apprehended with no combativeness.
26:37They are taken into custody.
26:40For you to just take somebody's life and not have it occur in the world,
26:44like, you don't need to be on the streets at all.
26:48It was a relief for me.
26:51You know, it was going to bring my baby back.
26:54But to know that y'all have been gotten was a big relief for me.
27:02Detectives bring Ashley in for questioning
27:05and begin learning more about the aspiring rapper.
27:10Ready to get this over with?
27:19My name is Ashley Coleman.
27:22And with this show, what do you want us to say under your name?
27:27Um...
27:29What your title is.
27:31A victim.
27:32A victim?
27:34Well, of course, defendant.
27:39Ashley Ann Coleman had a rough start in life
27:42in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas.
27:46My experiences as a child,
27:48not having enough, not having new shoes, not having clothes,
27:53my mom having to go to pantries,
27:55and people having to donate stuff from the churches and stuff.
27:58It taught me that if somebody could do it for me
28:01and make our day and we not ever know it,
28:03that I can do it for them.
28:06Without the resources to provide for herself,
28:09Ashley's early attempts to help others often led to petty crimes.
28:15I don't care if you're homeless, if you're needy,
28:17if you just don't have it right then.
28:22I would do whatever.
28:25I would steal that stuff.
28:27It's cold outside.
28:28They need gloves.
28:29They need beanies.
28:31They need socks.
28:33So if I knew it was a story down the street,
28:35I did what I did.
28:37It became a habit.
28:39In 2015, Ashley created her alter ego, Mommy Cash.
28:45Mama Cash, she was dope.
28:47She was dope.
28:48And at that time, there wasn't that many female artists,
28:51so, you know, it was something different.
28:54You Mommy Cash now.
28:56You Cash team.
28:58My dreams and my goals with my music were
29:01to show, like, kids from my neighborhood
29:04and every other neighborhood that's been down bad
29:07that, like, you can make it.
29:12But success in the rap game proved to be harder
29:15than Ashley anticipated.
29:18Women trying to be in the industry is hard for us, you know.
29:22It's not easy trying to be
29:24something that nobody believes you can be.
29:29Just when Ashley was starting to lose hope
29:31in her chosen career path,
29:34she met 17-year-old Hakeem Griffin-White.
29:38Hakeem was a fan.
29:41He followed Ashley on social media.
29:44He was in her DMs.
29:47He was someone who showed up to her performances.
29:52Hakeem was very charming.
29:54He was sweet.
29:55He told me all the things I don't really hear.
29:58You know, you feel like you don't have something
30:00or not enough of something,
30:02and he made me feel like I had it all.
30:05I felt as if I had it and I could do anything.
30:09He would go with me to my shows,
30:11go with me to the studios,
30:13and it was different having someone around
30:16that could be there.
30:18He said he wouldn't let anything happen to me,
30:20and I felt safe and confident.
30:25Hakeem Griffin-White
30:31My name is Hakeem Griffin-White.
30:34Me and Ashley had met through Facebook.
30:37You know what I'm saying?
30:39I had seen her before already,
30:41because she was doing her little music videos and things,
30:43so I already knew of her.
30:46When I seen her, I was like,
30:47OK, she's trying to do something in life.
30:50I learned in the industry,
30:51you have to have some type of
30:54facade so people won't just attack you
30:56or something like that.
30:57People want to see that gangster.
31:01They both glorified negativity.
31:04You know, they were hyping each other up.
31:10With the couple now in custody,
31:12detectives confront Ashley about Drake Easton's murder,
31:16and she points the finger squarely at Hakeem.
31:20I didn't shoot nobody.
31:21I didn't know what was going on.
31:24I can't control another person.
31:27How are y'all posting all this stuff on Facebook?
31:29What?
31:30Like what?
31:31Everything.
31:33Oh, he posted it.
31:35Donna knew me.
31:37You talking about, like,
31:38why he posting saying we did?
31:40Yeah.
31:42I don't know. Hakeem is crazy.
31:46He's a charmer.
31:49Don't get on his bad side.
31:51Don't press that button.
31:52Don't poke.
31:54Don't ask too much.
31:57And the less you say, the better.
32:01He was very abusive.
32:03I needed to get away from him,
32:05and I just didn't want his family or nobody
32:08to hurt my family.
32:12The week of the murder,
32:13Hakeem started playing these games with me,
32:16threatening to call the police if I left.
32:19He started lashing out,
32:20having angry spills,
32:23acting crazy.
32:25I was scared.
32:26I feel like he's gonna do something to,
32:27you know, hurt me.
32:31There wasn't none of that going on.
32:32Like, why would you be with somebody
32:34that's just gonna beat you up all the time?
32:35Like, that's not my currency.
32:38My mom, my sister, tell me,
32:40you gotta turn him in.
32:42But I'm like, looking at my mom,
32:43I'm like, it's not so simple.
32:46None of that story really made sense
32:48based on, like, it's her social media
32:50that they're putting all this stuff on.
32:53Everything about her demeanor
32:54was just very manipulative
32:55throughout my entire interaction with her.
32:58She was ready to throw him under the bus
33:00as soon as she could.
33:02If I would've known what I know now,
33:05man,
33:07think about Ashley.
33:09I mean,
33:11I would've known.
33:12Man,
33:14think about Ashley.
33:15She's just a hard pill to swallow.
33:17The things she was saying to me,
33:18I mean, I don't know why she's saying it about me
33:20because that's just not me.
33:24Coming up,
33:26Hakeem Griffin-White
33:27recounts his side of the story.
33:31Like, one day he was just like,
33:33I'm gonna get you.
33:34I'm, you know what I'm saying?
33:35I'm terrified.
33:38I just want to know why.
33:40What did he do
33:41that bad for you to take his life?
33:56Under the pressure of police interrogation,
33:59Ashley Coleman tries to distance herself
34:02from the murder of Drake Easton Alex,
34:05claiming her boyfriend
34:06and the alleged trigger man,
34:08Hakeem Griffin-White,
34:10was actually her abuser.
34:18I feel like she could've stopped it,
34:20but that never happened.
34:23Instead, it was like encouraging.
34:26I never encouraged Hakeem to do anything.
34:29Everything that he's done,
34:30he's done willingly, knowingly,
34:34and because he wanted to.
34:37In another interrogation room,
34:39Hakeem opens up to detectives
34:41about his and Ashley's social media personas
34:45and the video they created
34:47on the day Drake Easton was shot.
35:10Until I seen him that day.
35:13Hakeem tells us that they just rolled up
35:15on this guy that he's been having this
35:17several years long dispute with.
35:28He said he had had this ongoing dispute
35:31with Dre for years.
35:33School stuff, where they just,
35:35for whatever reason, they didn't get along
35:36and it just over the years escalated.
35:39Like one day he was just like,
35:41I'm gonna get you.
35:42I'm, you know what I'm saying?
35:44I'm terrified.
35:47Hakeem claims the feud came to a head
35:49several months earlier
35:51when Drake Easton threatened him
35:53outside a family member's house.
35:57I just remember like,
35:58him taking a gun out
35:59and I was just sitting there
36:00looking up to a gun like,
36:01dang, like I'm really finna drop dead right now.
36:04Like, it's still crazy.
36:05So, long story short,
36:07some lady came out with her kids
36:09in the apartment and
36:10she must have like looked our way.
36:12So, as he's been witnesses,
36:13he just, you know, turned away.
36:17That right there was just like,
36:18dang, like it was,
36:21it was just foul play.
36:22I ain't, I don't wanna dig in it.
36:24I feel like my life
36:25was being just too much in danger.
36:27Like, I want this dude
36:28to stop messing with me, man.
36:33Hakeem admits
36:34when he happened to see Drake Easton
36:36on the morning of March 2nd,
36:38he took the opportunity
36:39to teach his former friend a lesson.
36:43I end up seeing Drake
36:44coming my way
36:45with his hands in his pants
36:46on the phone.
36:47So, I was like, oh,
36:48I was like, oh, like,
36:50she, she don't know, dude.
36:52Ashley didn't know, like,
36:53the beef me and him had
36:55over all this time.
36:56So, she don't really know
36:58what was going on.
36:59I just, you know,
37:00reacting towards it
37:01like real fast, like.
37:03I was just letting him know,
37:04like, bro,
37:05you ain't finna keep
37:06doing me like that, bro.
37:07You know what I'm saying?
37:08Like, you ain't finna keep on
37:09trying to come for me,
37:10trying to kill me.
37:12My mental went to straight, like,
37:14just to scare him.
37:17I had shot.
37:20You know what I'm saying?
37:21It was like a quick shot.
37:22And then, boom.
37:24I end up taking off
37:25running towards the car.
37:27So, I hopped in the car
37:28and we burned through.
37:30I don't know
37:31if he was trying to kill her.
37:32I didn't even know
37:33he was dead
37:34when she shot me.
37:35I thought he was still alive.
37:38Throughout the interrogation,
37:39Hakeem attempts to shield Ashley
37:41from any responsibility.
37:45Still, authorities charge
37:47both Hakeem Griffin-White
37:48and Ashley Coleman
37:50with first-degree murder.
37:57In Texas, we have
37:58the law of parties,
37:59which means that the driver
38:01and the shooter
38:02both go down for the same thing.
38:03It doesn't matter
38:04that you didn't pull the trigger.
38:05It doesn't matter
38:06that it wasn't your idea.
38:08If you played a role
38:09in that crime,
38:10you go down for that crime, too.
38:13I didn't understand why.
38:15You know, I felt like
38:16I was a victim myself.
38:17So, why am I being charged
38:19with what he did, you know?
38:22There definitely is
38:23a level of premeditation.
38:26In that Facebook Live video,
38:28you see Ashley and Hakeem
38:30in the car.
38:31They're holding up
38:32a gun.
38:33They're holding up a magazine.
38:34They're showing bullets.
38:37Kind of talking smack
38:38about what they're gonna do.
38:42We've got this video.
38:43The clothing matches.
38:47This video, the weapon matches.
38:49The casings that were
38:50recovered in the scene.
38:52All of it matched
38:53perfectly throughout
38:54the whole thing.
38:57In March of 2019,
38:59two years after Dre's murder,
39:01Hakeem heads to trial.
39:05The trial was really hard
39:06because you got people
39:08in this world doing
39:10very, very bad things.
39:13And I accidentally
39:16shot a person.
39:17This was real live,
39:18like, accidental.
39:19So, it was like,
39:21how y'all just gonna
39:22do me like this?
39:26When you have
39:27surveillance video,
39:28it's hard to argue
39:29self-defense.
39:30It's hard to argue
39:31something else
39:32when it's right there
39:33in front of you,
39:34that you gunned down
39:35this person and you were
39:36doing it on purpose.
39:38You shot him once.
39:40You tried to shoot him again,
39:42but your gun jammed.
39:44So, your intention
39:45was most definitely
39:46to kill my son.
39:49This was not an accident.
39:51This was a very
39:52intentional act.
39:54Hakeem Griffin-White
39:56is ultimately found
39:57guilty of first-degree murder.
40:01And is sentenced
40:02to 75 years in prison.
40:05I'm not gonna say
40:06I was satisfied, but
40:08I really think that they,
40:10I mean, you take a life,
40:11you get a life.
40:14Worried she will face
40:15the same fate,
40:16Ashley decides to
40:17strike a deal
40:18with prosecutors.
40:20On September 24th, 2019,
40:25she pleads guilty
40:26to first-degree murder
40:28in exchange for a
40:29reduced 19-year
40:30prison sentence.
40:34That hurt me to my core
40:35because,
40:37why should she be able
40:38to get a plea deal
40:41and she's just as
40:42guilty as he is?
40:45You know right from wrong.
40:47You knew what he was doing
40:48wasn't right.
40:50But I'm okay because
40:51y'all not out here.
40:55And you get to get punished
40:56for something that you did.
41:00Unfortunately,
41:01someone lost their life
41:03as a result of
41:05their persona
41:07becoming bigger
41:09than the image
41:10that they were putting out.
41:12They chose to
41:13be realistic with it.
41:15They chose to
41:16show the world
41:19that it wasn't just
41:20what you saw on social media.
41:23They wanted to live it out.
41:25And they did.
41:27I did love Hakeem
41:28because he needed love
41:29and he wanted love
41:30and I believe
41:31everybody should be loved.
41:33At the same time,
41:34it's what you did
41:35with my love that
41:37totally took me for a loop.
41:41When I was hearing
41:42all this verbal abuse
41:43or physical abuse,
41:44like, I'm not abusive.
41:45Like, that's just not me.
41:48I have a lot of regrets.
41:49Like,
41:50even ever touching a gun,
41:52that's a regret.
41:53Dealing with Ashley,
41:54that's another regret.
41:55A lot of things in life
41:56that I just regret,
41:57I wish I could just
41:58take it all back.
42:01Your parents can still
42:02come and see y'all.
42:04Y'all are able to talk.
42:05You're eating.
42:06You're living.
42:07Regardless if it's behind
42:08the boys or not,
42:09I have to go to
42:10a grave site
42:12and talk to dirt,
42:14a headstone,
42:15no voices.
42:18It's not a day
42:19that'll go by
42:20that I don't talk about him.
42:22I post his pictures
42:23and everything
42:24on social media.
42:27It's never gonna be easy,
42:29but it is gonna be okay.

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