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A$AP Rocky has been found not guilty in his gun assault trial.
The jury read the verdict to a packed courtroom on Tuesday, February 18. A jury of seven women and five men found the rapper, born Rakim Mayers, is not guilty on both felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon. He was accused of shooting at his former friend Terell Ephron, a.k.a. A$AP Relli, during an argument in 2021. As soon as the first verdict was read, Mayers leaped for joy and instantly ran over to his girlfriend Rihanna and his family, who cheered and embraced him.
The prosecution argued that A$AP Rocky shot at Ephron during a heated confrontation near a West Hollywood hotel in 2021. A bullet grazed Rocky's friend on the left hand right above his knuckles but didn't sustain additional injuries. The verdict marks the end of an intense three-week trial. Rocky's attorney Jose Tacopina painted Ephron as a liar who's trying to extort the rapper. He also argued that the "Peso" rapper used a prop gun and fired blanks in self-defense.
Ephron took the stand and testified for three days during the trial. He shared a text exchange between himself and Rocky in the hours leading up to the shooting, which appeared to show Rocky instigating a confrontation. However, Tacopina revealed that Ephron deleted messages in which he taunted Rocky first.
The defendant's family including his mother, sister and girlfriend Rihanna were in the gallery throughout most of the trial. The singer showed up to court with both of her sons, RZA and Riot, for the first time last week for the closing arguments. During his statements, Deputy District Attorney John Lewin brought up Rocky's kids and warned the jury not to take his family's feelings into consideration.
"They brought in two adorable children yesterday for closing argument," Lewin said. "They haven't been here any other time. And you have to ask yourselves, why children that age would be here in a situation like this? You are not allowed to consider how this might affect Rihanna and his kids. We are all responsible for our own actions in the world."
A$AP Rocky was extremely grateful and hugged his legal team after the verdict was read. Watch the moment he learns about the first verdict above.
