Ju judges found rapper A $AP Rocky on Tuesday, not guilty of two felony assaults with a semi-automatic firearm, following a nearly one-month trial in Los Angeles.
A scream was heard in court as Rocky ran towards the back of the room, hugging her longtime partner Rihanna, and appeared at court on multiple occasions throughout the trial, reading the verdict. Rocky, a Rakim Mayers, faced up to 24 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
At the start of the trial last month, He refused a plea bargain He was sentenced to 180 days in prison.
“We said from day one, he was innocent. He was innocent, so he almost took away his prison time,” his defense attorney Joe Takopina said, Clara Short, in downtown photographer. He spoke to reporters outside the Ridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Rocky and Rihanna flocked to the verdict. “We are honored to represent this incredible family.”
The ju apprentices had deliberated for about three hours before reaching the verdict.
Prosecutors allegedly shot a Rocky shot twice in the direction of his former friend Terrell Efron near the Hollywood Hotel in 2021. Efron said he is another former member of the hip-hop collective A$AP mob who previously went to $AP Reli. A bullet wound was left on top of his knuckle. He testified to that Rocky It is said that he threatened him Kill him the same night.
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The defense accused Efron of producing evidence, committing perjury and trying to force Rocky, and the rapper said he had a prop gun that fired only the blanks he carried for safety.
Rocky pleaded not guilty to both counts and maintained his innocence through a statement by his lawyer.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman issued a statement on behalf of the prosecutor after the verdict Tuesday.
“Today’s verdict is not the result we sought, but we respect the judicial decision and the integrity of the judicial system,” Hochman said in a statement. “Our office is still committed to seeking accountability from those who break the law, regardless of their status or influence. Fame places no one above the law. We We will not shake up our pursuit of justice for the victims and our community.”
With discussions about closing begin late last week, Rihanna appeared in downtown Los Angeles courtroom with her for the first time with the couple’s two-year-old and one-year-old sons, the Associated Press reported.
$AP Rocky Stand will go to court in Los Angeles
Prosecutors said that, after Rocky pointed out a semi-automatic firearm at Efron, the first few days of the trial before a fire began during another conflict on the evening of November 6, 2021. Efron testified that Rocky said“I’ll kill you now,” he pointed the gun at him and said, “To my stomach, like my head and shoulders.”
He said he couldn’t remember any particular details, but he said Rocky moved his gun and “he was looking for a place to shoot me.” Prosecutors alleged that Rocky fired twice in Efron’s direction later that night.
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“So I see him facing in a rocky direction and when he turns around, he likes him.” Efron said he imitated the gesture. He says Rocky made it with a gun and raised his arms into the air with his fingers pointing down. “It looked a bit like a movie. Everything looked like a movie.”
The former friend was near the streets of Argyle and Selma, a Hollywood area, just outside Hollywood when prosecutors said Rocky had fired.
Efron testified that he had a bullet wound just above his knuckle, and he later sought treatment.
“When he shot the first shot, I felt my hand heated,” he told the ju-dean in the witness stand last month. “I just don’t like not hitting at this point,” Efron said.
He testified that Los Angeles Police Department officials responded to the scene and gathered shell cases claiming they had been fired by guns before returning to the area later that night. “But I ended up going back and getting my own actual bullet,” he said.
“It wasn’t difficult to find the bullet because I knew exactly where I was shot,” he said.
Rocky’s defense attorney, Takopina, told the ju judge that Efron made the evidence, committed perjury during his testimony, and described him as a “pathological liar” during his trial. Takopina said several officers responded to the scene before Efron returned, conducting a thorough search and would not be able to stumble upon the shell case.
“What you learn is that Leli returned to that scene an hour later,” Takopina said of Efron, referring to him by the name of his former artist. “And he tried to create evidence… this is some offensive.”
One defense witness testified that he saw Rocky with a starter pistol. Another former member of the A$AP Mob Collective and longtime friend of Rocky, A$AP Twelvyy said the rapper carried a fake gun around him as a means of security. The felony charges faced by Rocky will not apply if no actual firearms are involved.
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The defense argued that the rapper could be found innocent on the basis of self-defense. Both the prosecution and defense said that after the first opposition of the two conflicts in Hollywood on the night of November 6, 2021, Rocky and the other two men who were with him left. I agreed to this. However, prosecutors claimed that Rocky was an invader when he was said to have first pulled the gun and fired in the second incident.
While Efron claimed he tried to force Rocky, the defense presented a recording recorded in 2022 by Wally Sajimi, a witness to the defense he made. On the recording, a voice similar to Efron says he will accept that he will be paid to stop taking part in the case. Against Rocky. “Once you leave, once you get cash, the case becomes much weaker,” the recording says.
However, prosecutors said Efron’s testimony in court was consistent with what he said to Sajimi in the recorded conversation. The Grammy-nominated rapper said he fired with a real gun.
“Mr. Efron wants to be paid because he was a victim of a real crime with a real gun,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Paul Pulselomiek told the ju judge last week. “In those few minutes he will give you the exact same details he told you when he testified in this case.”
“That’s proof they created. It’s their people trying to trick Mr. Efron and they’re trying to make him say something that will damage him.
During the closing discussion, Przelomiec told the ju umpire that witnesses testified about the defense told law enforcement that Rocky had a fake gun that night when the investigation first proceeded. He said that it was not possible. He said the prop was raised more than two years later after alleged shooting.
“The idea that they’re not bumping into police stations to tell their stories is ridiculous,” Przelomiec said of the defense witness.
Meanwhile, defense has been hone in what they claim is a lack of credibility of key witnesses in the prosecution.
Takopina told the ju judge during discussion last week. Aside from Efron’s testimony, the prosecutor’s evidence stated “consisting of video, shell cases and knuckle scuffs.” The video alone did not prove the defendant’s guilt, and Shellcase said he had produced the evidence.
“They don’t believe him and mean nothing,” Takopina said.
