Photo: ALLISON DINNER / AFP / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - As his longtime partner Rihanna looked on, hip-hop star A$AP Rocky was acquitted Tuesday of two felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in a case in which the rapper-turned-fashion mogul was accused of shooting at a former friend during an argument in Hollywood in 2021.
The jury in downtown Los Angeles reached its decision after about three hours of deliberations, and the courtroom exploded with applause and cheers from supporters when the verdict was read. When the first verdict "not guilty" verdict was announced, an emotional Rocky spun around and fell forward into the courtroom gallery as he embraced Rihanna in the front row behind him.
During the three-week trial, jurors heard conflicting narratives about what occurred the night of Nov. 6, 2021, when Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, was involved in a pair of violent confrontations with former friend Terell Ephron -- also known as A$AP Relli.
The prosecution alleged Rocky used a genuine 9mm semiautomatic weapon to shoot at Relli twice, with one bullet grazing the knuckles of the ex- friend's left hand. Rocky's defense maintained the Grammy-nominated hip-hop star was carrying a harmless prop gun, which shot blanks and would not constitute a crime if fired. Neither gun was produced for the jury during the trial.
"This is not a difficult case," Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told the jury during his closing argument. "There's just one important question that you have to answer, and that is did Mr. Mayers use a real gun or did he use a fake gun? ... Nothing else is in dispute."
Relli testified that he was lured into meeting Rocky outside a parking garage in an encounter partially caught on surveillance video. The music star pulled a gun from his waistband, put it toward Relli's stomach and said, "I'll kill you right now," the witness told the jury.
Relli said he believed the 36-year-old Harlem, New York-born rapper and fashion ambassador had become "big-headed" and "fake" due to his success, telling Rocky he had "failed everybody" and that no one else was brave enough to share their honest opinions with him.
He alleged that Rocky turned around and shot at him with a real firearm. He said he waited until he got to New York to go to a hospital days later to seek medical treatment for his three injured knuckles.
Rocky's attorney, Joe Tacopina, argued that Relli was lying, that the gun was a "starter pistol" that only fired blanks. He claimed Rocky carried it as a prop for security reasons, something his close friends were aware of.
"It was a real gun," Deputy District Attorney John Lewin insisted in his closing argument Friday. "The `prop gun' was a figment of the defense."
Lewin went point by point, countering Tacopina's defense argument that began Thursday afternoon.
"It's a sad situation," the prosecutor said of the defendant. "This is a guy that has everything. He's successful, he's got a beautiful wife. He's got two children who were here (in court). And some of you might be saying, why would he risk that? And that's a very good question. It's just not a question that is for you to consider. Because in the end, the issue is not why he risked it ... because what the evidence shows is that's what he did."
Lewin said in his summation that Rocky was the aggressor in the pair of confrontations even before the gun was pulled. But he could only guess at why the dispute between former high school pals had risen to the level of involving what he alleged was a lethal weapon. Relli was an artist manager, a former member of Rocky's A$AP rap collective.
"They've known each other half their lives," Lewin said. "They understand they're upset with each other. When the defendant pulls out the gun, Relli's entire future flashes before his eyes. And you know what that future is? He's done. It's over. What makes it over? He understands that if the defendant is upset with him enough to pull a gun on him, (Rocky's) gonna ruin him. That means no more artists will sign with him. That means record deals will go away. He's done. And what's his response? It's shock and it's anger."
According to Tacopina, Relli was jealous of his old friend's success and saw an opportunity to extort cash from him after the Nov 6, 2021, fight.
The defense lawyer played for the jury a telephonic recording of Relli talking to another witness, saying that he would extort Rocky for $30 million in exchange for his refusal to participate in a criminal case against the rapper.
"That's extortion, that's trying to sell a criminal case for $30 million," Tacopina said. "Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution has not proven its case. ... The only thing they've proved beyond a reasonable doubt is, Relli is a pathological liar, a perjurer and an extortionist."
The trial in downtown Los Angeles was marked by sniping and arguing between Lewin and Tacopina, erupting several times into near-violence outside the jury's presence while the judge has been reduced to screaming, "Stop it!" Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold has been keeping tabs of speaking objections and other violations of trial decorum and said he would move to impose hefty fines on the lawyers once the trial had concluded.
During five days on the stand, Relli testified that after the altercations, he left the scene, but returned about 90 minutes later -- after police had unsuccessfully searched the area for evidence of shots fired -- and found two shell casings on the street. He claimed he took the casings to police two days later, allegedly proving that a genuine firearm was used against him.
"The prosecution wants you to take him at his word that he found the casings," Tacopina said. "He lied to you about so many crucial things."
Rocky's longtime partner, music star Rihanna -- who turns 37 on Thursday -- had been seated in the courtroom sporadically throughout the trial, at one point carrying the couple's two young sons, toddlers RZA and Riot.
Lewin's closing argument touched on the couple's notoriety.
"The defendant is an extremely powerful individual," the prosecutor said. "His wife is even more powerful. Relli found himself in this situation that he was on the wrong side of that power divide. ... This was 10 p.m. on a busy Saturday night in Hollywood. The defendant, because he was angry, because of ego, because of the fact that he is who he is, he decided that he was going to have a confrontation with Relli."
Pointing at Rocky, who has sat mostly silently and staring straight ahead during the weekslong trial, Lewin told the jury why he believes the case is important, even though Relli's injury to his knuckles was minor.
"That man decided that his ego and his vendetta and his anger at Relli was important enough that he was going to risk not only Relli's life ... but he was going to fire two shots from a 9mm firearm in the middle of Hollywood," the attorney said.
"Now, I don't have to tell you ... bullets travel until they hit something. ... Sometimes they hit the person they're aimed at. And sometimes, some tourist walking down Hollywood Boulevard with her family all of a sudden drops dead because they've been shot in the head by a bullet that somebody selfishly fired to settle a childish dispute. That's what he did. That's the conduct in this case."
Summing up, Lewin told the panel, "This case could and easily be a five-minute verdict. And here's why. Because once you decide that this was not a prop gun -- and ladies and gentlemen, this was not a prop gun. Once you decide that, it's over."
Before opening statements last month, Rocky rejected a plea deal that would have required him to plead guilty to one of two felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and serve six months behind bars.
Rocky was arrested in April 2022 upon returning to Los Angeles from a trip with Rihanna to her native Barbados. Relli filed a lawsuit for assault, battery and emotional distress against Rocky four months later.
"Mr. Ephron wants to get paid because he was the victim of a real crime by a real gun," Przelomiec said.
