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Closing arguments began with a key question Thursday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom in the gun assault trial of rapper A$AP Rocky.
The rap artist-turned-fashion mogul, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, faces two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in two confrontations on the night of Nov. 6, 2021 with Terell Ephron — aka A$AP Relli — in Hollywood. The two men’s friendship soured over the years as Rocky’s music career blossomed, a turn of events that culminated in the Hollywood encounter and August 2023 charges against Rocky.
Pop star Rihanna, Rocky’s longtime partner and the mother of the couple’s two children, was seen dressed in black with her two children entering court Thursday morning on a rainy day in downtown LA, according to TMZ. Rihanna has appeared in the courtroom five times since the trial began Jan. 24.
After attorneys finish closing arguments Thursday, the case is expected to go to the jury for deliberations.
Relli testified during the trial that he saw his former friend outside a parking garage in an encounter partially caught on surveillance video and that the Grammy-nominated music star pulled a gun from his waistband, put it toward his stomach and said, “I’ll kill you right now.”
The accuser said during a November 2023 hearing that he believed the 36-year-old rapper had become “big-headed” due to his success, telling Rocky he had “failed everybody” and claiming that no one else was brave enough to share their honest opinions with him.
Relli alleged Rocky turned around and shot at him, saying he believed his left hand had been grazed by the gunfire. 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, saying he was in pain.
Rocky’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, maintains that the gun was a starter pistol that only fired blanks. He claimed Rocky carried it as a prop for security reasons.
Prosecutors, however, insist that Rocky used a genuine firearm that shot real bullets, one of which injured Relli’s knuckles when fired. Neither the prop gun or alleged genuine firearm were produced at trial.
“Was it a real gun or was it a fake gun?” Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec said Thursday. “Nothing else is in dispute.”
Relli testified that after the altercation, he left the scene, but returned about an hour later — after police had unsuccessfully searched the area for evidence of shots fired — and found two shell casings on the street. He said he took the casings to police two days later.
A Los Angeles Police Department detective testified that he did not see Relli on surveillance video showing the Hollywood street at the time the accuser says he found the shell casings ostensibly from the gun allegedly used to shoot at him.
Relli, the key witness in the prosecution case, has testified for several days. Rocky declined to take the stand in his own defense.
For Rocky to be found guilty of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, prosecutors must show that the gun was real.
In jury instructions Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold told the jury that they may consider self-defense as a possible motive.
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.
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