ASAP Rocky, the Grammy nominated hip-hop artist, was found not guilty on Tuesday of shooting a former collaborator. The jury deliberated for nearly three hours in a case that threatened to derail his career.
Rocky, 36, born Rakim Mayers, faced two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, stemming from an altercation with his one-time friend, Terell Ephron, known as ASAP Relli, near a Hollywood hotel in 2021.
Rocky dived into the gallery to hug family including Rihanna, the singer, businesswoman, and mother of his two young sons, and embraced his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, after the verdict was read.
“Thank y’all for saving my life,” he told jurors.
The trial hinged on jurors’ assessment of the gun used in the incident, which prosecutors said was a semiautomatic firearm and witnesses for the defense testified was instead a prop gun acquired at the filming of a music video. No gun was presented as evidence in the trial and Rocky did not take the stand in his defense. He faced up to 24 years in prison if convicted of both counts.
Rocky faced trial at a time when he had several notable projects in the works. He is scheduled to be one of the headliners of the Los Angeles stop of the Rolling Loud festival in March, and was announced as one of the celebrity chairs for the Met Gala, to be held in May. He also stars alongside Denzel Washington in a Spike Lee-directed movie scheduled to open in summer.
John Lewin, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, had asked the jury not to be swayed by the court appearances of Rihanna, who was a frequent presence during the 13-day trial and attended the start of closing arguments last week with the pair’s two young sons.
“Rocky did not want her here,” Tacopina said. “He wanted to shield her from this. Wild horses couldn’t keep her away.”
The three-week trial was the culmination of a dispute between former collaborators, Relli and Rocky. The high school friends once belonged to the same rap collective called ASAP (Always Strive and Prosper) Mob but their relationship had grown acrimonious. They agreed to meet on the evening of Nov. 6, 2021, to clear their differences, Relli testified.
Relli claimed Rocky arrived with two men — ASAP Twelvyy, born Jamel Phillips, and ASAP Illz, born Illijah Ulanger — at a parking garage near the W Hotel in Hollywood.
Relli described briefly arguing with Rocky before the parties separated. The confrontation resumed a few minutes later and Rocky pulled a gun from his waistband as Relli attempted to hide behind Illz. Relli testified that Rocky fired at him, grazing his right hand. The prosecution presented surveillance video showing Rocky holding a gun before the shooting in support of its claim.
“The whole thing was like a movie, he kind of like pointed down and he shot the first shot,” Relli testified.
Twelvyy and another defense witness testified that Rocky had fired blanks from a prop gun, which he had started carrying months earlier on the recommendation of a security adviser, and that Relli knew it was a fake. The defense maintained that Rocky had only intended to defend Illz from being physically attacked by Relli and that Relli had exaggerated events to extort Rocky and later support his quest for damages in a civil trial.
Relli had spent several days testifying at the trial, including sitting for a contentious cross-examination by Tacopina. Relli grew frustrated when Tacopina showed his Instagram page in court and said he had received death threats because of the accusations he had made.
At one point, Judge Mark S. Arnold asked an animated Relli to “take it easy” and advised him to drink some water.
“I’m not on trial,” Relli said. “I’ve been here for five days, dealing with this man. I’ve been looking stupid for five days.”
Tacopina called Relli “a perjury machine” during his closing on Friday and labeled Relli’s injuries as “knuckle scrapes” that could have been sustained in a fight or a fall.
Thomas Zizzo, a Los Angeles police sergeant (and the son of a “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member) and one of the first authorities to arrive on the scene after the incident, testified that it was difficult to determine whether a crime had taken place.
Though police could not locate evidence of a discharged weapon at the scene, Relli testified that he returned to the area later that night and retrieved two 9-millimeter shell casings.
“Police failed to find the gun and that became the strongest point for the defense,” said Sam Bassett, a Texas-based criminal defense attorney who has represented athletes and lawmakers.
Relli also filed a lawsuit in civil court against Rocky for damages sustained during the shooting and a defamation suit against Rocky and Tacopina that are now imperiled by the not guilty verdict.
“He sued us and after today, I don’t think that’s going so well,” Tacopina said.
