A Los Angeles court has acquitted rapper A$AP Rocky of two counts of felony assault. The musician, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, had faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted of the alleged attack on a former friend, Terell Ephron, also known as A$AP Relli, in Hollywood in 2021.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that Mayers had shot a nine-millimeter semi-automatic weapon during a confrontation with Ephron, grazing his hand. However, Mayers insisted that he had been carrying only a harmless prop gun.
The two had previously been friends and part of the same rap collective, A$AP, but had fallen out due to disagreements over Mayers’ commercial success. Ephron told the jury that he had been lured to a parking garage for an encounter that was partially caught on grainy surveillance video.
Ephron claimed that after exchanging words, Mayers pulled a gun from his waistband, put it toward Relli’s stomach, and said, “I’ll kill you right now.” Ephron said two bullets were fired, with one grazing his knuckles.
Mayers’ defense attorney, Joe Tacopina, argued that the weapon was a prop gun and that Ephron had manufactured the story to extort money from Mayers. Tacopina pointed out that seven police officers had searched the scene of the shooting hours later but found neither shell casings nor a weapon.
The jury delivered a verdict of not guilty, and Mayers was acquitted of the charges. Tacopina praised the jury for seeing through what he called a “mirage of a case” and accused Ephron of extortion.
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