LOS ANGELES ( AP ): Rapper A$AP Rocky was discovered not responsible Tuesday of firing a handgun at a former buddy on a Hollywood road in 2021.
Los Angeles jurors deliberated for less than about three hours earlier than clearing him of two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm.
The 36-year-old hip-hop star, trend mogul and burgeoning actor — whose authorized identify is Rakim Mayers — risked greater than 24 years in jail if he had been convicted.
On the eve of trial, he turned down a prosecution provide of simply six months in jail, together with probation and different circumstances, if he would plead responsible to at least one rely.
Insisting on his innocence, and with two younger toddler sons at residence alongside together with his long-time associate Rihanna, the 36-year-old Rocky determined to gamble {that a} jury would really feel the identical. It paid off. The jurors felt at the least that there was affordable doubt of his guilt.
Rihanna attended the trial sporadically and introduced the couple’s two sons — 2-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and 1-year-old Riot Rose Mayers — for a number of the closing arguments.
The decision got here on the top of Rocky’s fame, if not the head of his music profession. The three-time Grammy nominee has a banner yr within the works, and may now look to it with out the specter of jail hanging over him. He’s scheduled to headline the Rolling Loud music competition in March; he is among the superstar co-chairs of trend’s largest evening, the Met Gala, in Could; and he stars with Denzel Washington in director Spike Lee’s movie Highest 2 Lowest, set for launch in early summer season.
Prosecutors and their witnesses stated that he was beefing with a former buddy, A$AP Relli, with whom he had been in a crew who known as themselves the A$AP Mob since highschool. They stated the 2 males met up in Hollywood on November 6, 2021, and after a scuffle Rocky pulled the gun and fired twice at Relli, who stated one of many pictures grazed his knuckle however was not significantly harm.
Rocky’s lawyer Joe Tacopina stated in his closing argument that Relli is “an offended pathological liar” who “dedicated perjury repeatedly and repeatedly.”
Rocky’s attorneys and witnesses they known as stated Rocky had shot a prop gun that solely fires blanks, which he had been carrying for safety since taking it from a music video set months earlier. They stated he fired it as a warning as a result of Relli was attacking one other member of their crew.
The jurors had been advised that regardless of three years passing because the incident, nobody talked about the phony gun to authorities till the day jury choice started on the trial.
They had been additionally instructed that in the event that they discovered that Rocky moderately believed that he or one of many two pals with him that evening had been in imminent hazard of damage, and that he used affordable power, they might discover the defendant not responsible.
It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not they reached the decision as a result of they believed he was actually carrying a prop gun or that he acted in self-defence. They didn’t need to agree on their reasoning, or clarify it outdoors of the jury room. They only needed to attain the identical conclusion.
Rocky opted to not testify in his personal defence.
In his closing argument, Deputy District Legal professional John Lewin urged the jurors to not be influenced by the superstar or household facets of the case, and steered Rihanna bringing the youngsters to closing arguments was an try to govern the jury.
“You aren’t allowed to contemplate how this would possibly have an effect on Rihanna and his youngsters,” the prosecutor stated. “We’re all accountable for our personal actions on the earth.”
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