Rapper A$AP Rocky has been found not guilty of felony assault, following a high profile trial in Los Angeles.
A jury returned the verdict on Tuesday afternoon after deliberating for just three hours. Upon hearing the verdict, the hip-hop star, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, turned and ran to embrace jubilant supporters behind him – falling over as he did so.
“Thank y’all for saving my life,” Mayers told jurors as they left the courtroom.
The rapper, 36, was charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. If convicted, he could have faced up to 24 years in prison.
On the eve of trial, Mayers turned down a prosecution offer of just six months in jail, along with probation and other conditions, if he would plead guilty to one count.
Prosecutors alleged that Mayers twice fired a gun at his former longtime friend and fellow rapper A$AP Relli, during a dispute on a Hollywood street.
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The pair were part of a crew who called themselves the A$AP Mob since high school. Prosecutors alleged that the two men met up in Hollywood on November 6 2021, and after a scuffle Rocky pulled the gun and fired twice at his former friend.
Relli, real name Terrell Ephron, was the key witness for the prosecution. In his testimony, which made up the bulk of the prosecution’s case, he said his knuckles were grazed by one of the shots, but he was otherwise uninjured.
The defense argued that Mayers fired blanks from a prop gun that he picked up from a music video set, bringing in two of the rapper’s inner circle to attest to that.
Mayers’ lawyer Joe Tacopina said in his closing argument that Ephron is “an angry pathological liar” who “committed perjury again and again and again and again.”
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Mayers is the partner of global megastar Rihanna, who attended much of the trial and brought their two toddler sons – 2-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and 1-year-old Riot Rose Mayers – to closing arguments.
However, deputy district attorney John Lewin suggested their presence was an attempt to manipulate jurors.
“They brought in two adorable children… 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?”
He added, “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.”
When the not guilty verdict was read on Tuesday, Rihanna cried and hugged the defense lawyers.
Speaking to reporters later, Tacopina said Mayer’s was “very well loved” in Los Angeles. “I’ve been here for over a month and just me walking around… people were just wishing me luck for him.
“I mean, he’s loved very well, loved in the city… he’s got a lot of fans, and that doesn’t happen because he’s a singer. It happens because who he is as a person…. He does incredible charity work. He gives back to the community.
He added: “He’s become a dear friend of mine more than a client. And that’s why cases like this are really difficult for me, because there’s so much on the line. I mean, I care about every client I represent to the point where they become family.
“This was at a different level. And so I was just not prepared for, I would not accept any other verb for this one.”
A not guilty verdict will also allow Mayers to proceed with a banner year, which includes headlining the Rolling Loud music festival in March and being one of the celebrity co-chairs of the Met Gala in May.
He also stars with Denzel Washington in director Spike Lee’s film Highest 2 Lowest, which is set for release in early summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
