Closing arguments got underway Thursday in the gun assault trial of rapper-turned-fashion mogul A$AP Rocky, who faces two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm that could send him to prison for years.
Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, was charged in August 2022 for his role in a pair of Hollywood street confrontations with Terell Ephron — also known as A$AP Relli — on the night of Nov. 6, 2021.
The prosecution alleges Relli was shot at twice, with one bullet grazing the knuckles of his left hand. But Rocky’s defense maintains the hip-hop star was carrying a prop gun, which could only shoot blanks and would not constitute a crime if used. Neither gun was produced during the trial.
“This is not a difficult case,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told the jury in summation. “There’s just one important question that you have to answer, and that is did Mr. Mayers use a real gun or did he use a fake gun? … Nothing else is in dispute.”
During three weeks of trial, attorneys have sought to persuade the jury of what they believe occurred during the altercation between Rocky and his former longtime friend.
Relli testified that he was provoked into meeting Rocky outside a parking garage in an encounter partially caught on surveillance video. The Grammy-nominated music star pulled a gun from his waistband, put it toward Relli’s stomach and said, “I’ll kill you right now,” the witness testified.
The accuser said during a November 2023 hearing that he believed the 36-year-old rapper-turned-fashion mogul 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 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.
Defense witnesses told the jury that Rocky’s close friends knew he carried a prop gun to scare off would-be assailants. Prosecutors countered that using a fake gun for self-protection lacks common sense.
“It makes absolutely no sense because it’s not true,” Przelomiec said Thursday, calling some of the defense explanations “absurd.”
The prosecutor told the panel in downtown Los Angeles that even though the incident did not result in serious injury to Relli, “this was still a serious crime.” He said the prosecution does not have to prove the defendant pointed a real gun at Relli, or even fired it, for a conviction.
“If you find this was a real gun, the law compels you” to find Rocky guilty, Przelomiec said.
Rocky’s longtime partner, music star Rihanna, was seated in the courtroom Thursday morning with one of the couple’s two toddlers on her lap. The baby’s murmuring could be heard at times throughout the courtroom during the first part of the prosecutor’s summation.
During five days on the stand, 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, allegedly proving that a genuine firearm was used against him.
Rocky declined to take the stand in his own defense.
On Tuesday, attorneys for both sides came to an agreement which was read to the jury that a final prosecution witness — if called to the stand — would testify that the prop gun discussed in the case “would have ejected two fired cartridge cases as it was fired. The fired cartridge cases (allegedly found by Relli at the scene of the incident) were not fired from the prop gun.”
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 motive.
After attorneys give their summations — which could continue into Friday — the case would go to the jury for deliberations. Court is closed Monday in observance of Presidents Day.
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.
In his opening, Tacopina accused Relli of being driven by “jealousy, lies and greed,” and alleged that he invented parts of his story of being attacked to bolster an attempt to extort cash from Rocky.
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.