The judge found A$AP Rocky not guilty on two counts of criminal assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Wednesday in Los Angeles. Rocky then jumped into the arms of Rihanna.
There were screaming fans of the hip-hop artist and his singing partner in the Los Angeles courtroom when Rocky jumped from the defense table into the balcony, where Rihanna was sitting between his mother and sister. They held hands and cried.
Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was on trial for three weeks, but the jury only took three hours to decide not to put him in jail, which could have meant more than twenty years.
As they left, he told them, “Thank you for saving my life.”
It took the clerk a while to read the second “not guilty” verdict because of all the noise. However, it was not likely that the jury would disagree on both points.
Judge Mark Arnold told Mr. Mayers, “You’re free to go.”
Rocky turned down the government’s offer of only six months in jail, probation, and other terms if he admitted guilt to one count the night before his trial.
Because Rocky was sure he wasn’t guilty, he chose to take a chance that the jury would agree. It worked out. The jury thought there was at least a good chance he wasn’t guilty.
And Rocky also gave the defense lawyers a hug. She only went to some of the trial, and for some of the final arguments, she brought the couple’s two sons, RZA Athelston Mayers, 2, and Riot Rose Mayers, 1.
They had to fight their way through a crowd of reporters, photographers, YouTubers, and fans to get into an SUV that was waiting outside the courthouse after the decision.
“This whole thing has been crazy for four years,” Rocky said in the middle of the crowd. “I feel blessed and thankful to be here with you all right now as a free man.”
Nathan Hochman, the district attorney, said he respected what the jurors decided.
“Our office is still determined to hold lawbreakers responsible, no matter how powerful or well-known they are,” Hochman said in a statement. “Fame doesn’t make anyone above the law, and we won’t give up on getting justice for the victims and the community.”
Rocky was very famous at the time of the ruling, maybe even at the top of his music career. This is going to be a great year for the three-time Grammy nominee, fashion mogul, and actor. He no longer has to worry about going to jail. He will be the main act at the Rolling Loud music event in March, and he is one of the celebrity co-chairs of the Met Gala in May, which is the biggest night in fashion. He also stars with Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s movie “Highest 2 Lowest,” which comes out in early summer.
Prosecutors and their witnesses said he was fighting with A$AP Relli, an old friend with whom he had been in a group called the A$AP Mob since high school. When the two men met up in Hollywood on November 6, 2021, there was a fight. After the fight, Rocky pulled out a gun and shot Relli twice. Relli said one of the shots hit him in the knuckle but didn’t hurt him badly.
At the end of the case, Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said that Relli is “an angry pathological liar” who has “committed perjury again and again and again and again.”
Lawyers for Rocky and witnesses they called said that Rocky had fired a prop gun that only shoots blanks. He had been carrying it for safety since he stole it from a music video set months before. They said he fired it as a warning because Relli was hitting one of their team members.
The jurors were also told that Rocky could be found not guilty if they could prove that he had a good reason to think that he or one of his two friends were in immediate danger of being hurt and that he used-acceptable force.
The jurors were led out of the building and didn’t stop to talk to reporters as they left. It wasn’t clear if they found him guilty because they thought he was carrying a fake gun or because they thought he was acting in self-defense. They didn’t have to agree on their thinking or talk about it outside of court. They had to have the same thought process.
“They saw right through this fake case,” Tacopina said. “Because he was innocent, he turned down a plea deal for almost no jail time.”
Deputy District Attorney John Lewin told the jurors not to be swayed by the celebrity or family parts of the case in his closing argument. He also said that Rihanna’s decision to bring her kids to the closing arguments was an attempt to trick the jury.
The lawyer told them, “You are not allowed to think about how this might affect Rihanna and his kids.” “Everyone in the world is responsible for what they do.”
“Rocky did not want her here, I will tell you that,” Tacopina said outside the building after the court case was over.
He said Rocky “didn’t want her to know about this.” She could not be stopped by wild horses.
Rocky was more than 30 minutes late for the decision to be read, and he looked tense and scared as he queued up.
“Before we heard what the clerk said, there was a time when he didn’t know if he was going to spend the next 20 years in jail or going home,” Tacopina said.
Then the feelings went through the roof, and they jumped into the crowd.
Tacopina said, “I didn’t know how athletic he was.” “You really felt that, you guys got to see it.” It was crazy even for us.
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