LOS ANGELES (CN) — A$AP Relli, the childhood friend of star rapper A$AP Rocky, testified in a Los Angeles court on Tuesday about an angry altercation on the streets of Hollywood in 2021 that led to a shooting.
The 36-year-old Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, is accused of first brandishing and then firing a handgun at his old friend Relli, whose real name is Terell Ephron. The two met in high school in New York, where they formed the A$AP Mob, a rap collective. The two, by all accounts, had a falling out, culminating in a physical altercation one night in Hollywood. Mayers admits that he fired a gun twice. However, he claims it was not a real semiautomatic handgun, as prosecutors say it was, but rather a “starter’s pistol” or prop gun that he obtained while shooting a music video and that the shots he fired were blanks.
Ephron emerged from the incident mostly unscathed, save for minor scrapes on a few of his fingers, which prosecutors say may or may not have come from one of the bullets. Police responded to the scene after several nearby residents called 911, but they found no physical evidence of the shooting. Ephron says that he returned to the scene an hour after the shooting and found two spent casings from a 9mm handgun, which he eventually turned over to police when he finally reported the incident days later. When police searched Mayers’ home, they found a magazine loaded with 9mm bullets, though they were of a different brand than the spent casings Ephron recovered.
Mayers’ attorney Joe Tacopina said in his opening statement Friday that Ephron was the aggressor, starting a fight with Rocky. But Ephron on Tuesday denied that.
“I would never fight Rocky,” Ephron testified. “We’re in an industry where you get blackballed really easily.”
“He’s famous. I’m nobody, pretty much,” he added.
Mayers was in Los Angeles to perform at a festival. Ephron, who works as a manager for recording artists and as a producer, was in town on his own business. Ephron said the antipathy between him an Mayers had been building for some time. He said he thought Mayers wasn’t around enough and chided him, calling him “Mr. Six Month Man,” as in, he only saw him every six months.
“That was our whole relationship — just weird grudges,” Ephron said.
On the night of the shooting, Ephron awoke from his Hollywood hotel to more than half a dozen missed calls from Mayers and his friends. They arranged to meet nearby. As Ephron walked down the street to the agreed upon spot, he said he heard Mayers shout, “What now, pussy?” When Ephron walked up to Mayers, they immediately grabbed each others’ hoodies, shoving each other. It was then, Ephron said, that Mayers pulled out a gun and pointed it at him.
“He was like, ‘I kill you right now, pussy!” Ephron testified. “He was livid … I became furious. I told him to use it. I couldn’t believe he just pulled a gun out on me.” He said he shouted back at Mayers, “What the fuck you got a gun out for?”
“That was the breaking point for me,” he said.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec struggled to get Ephron to explain his reaction. Did he really want Mayers to shoot him? Did he have a death wish?
“I know Rocky,” Ephron said. “I felt at the moment that was the right thing to do. I’m not gonna let you feel like you come around and do what you want. I’m gonna let you know, in front of your two little minions … they gonna say, Relli stood up for himself. You know?”
Ephron’s testimony will continue Wednesday morning and will likely continue throughout the week. Because of the dearth of physical evidence in the case, Ephron’s testimony, and how well it holds up to cross examination, will likely be the key set piece of the two-week trial.
On Tuesday morning, before Ephron took the stand and before the jury took their seats, Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold asked Mayers’ defense team about the prop gun.
“Does the prop gun exist?” Arnold asked.
“The prop gun existed,” Mayers’ lawyer Joe Tanopina said. “Are you asking if we’re going to produce it?
“Yes,” Arnold responded gruffly.
“No,” Tacopina said.
The sets of relatively well known lawyers — Tacopina is known for having defended President Donald Trump in court on numerous occasions, and lead prosecutor John Lewin was featured prominently in the HBO docuseries “The Jinx” — have already displayed a level of enmity toward each other that mirrors that of the defendant and alleged victim. After dealing with various evidentiary issues, including the whereabouts of the supposed prop gun, Deputy District Attorney Lewin complained about what he called “Mr. Tacopina’s attempt to manipulate the media.”
“He’s speaking to TMZ,” Lewin said. “He likes to say things to the press as he leaves the building.”
Tacopina shot back, saying that the new district attorney, Nathan Hochman, has also been speaking to the media. Both lawyers have complained about late disclosures — the prop gun defense, for example, emerged weeks before the trial opened, while a year-old ballistics report was unearthed by prosecutors the night before opening arguments.
Judge Arnold, trying to move on with the trial, ordered neither side to speak with the media.
“This is a no squabbling zone,” he said.
But Lewin then made a startling accusation.
“On Friday, Mr. Tacopina started screaming at me,” Lewin said. “He appeared to challenge me to a fight … I’m not going to be treated that way by anyone. Certainly not in a court.”
“Both of you are zealous attorneys,” Arnold said, apparently growing weary of the back-and-forth.
“No one screamed,” Tacopina said. “I don’t need a lecture from him. I’m not going into the amount of phone calls I got about him and his reputation. I’m not going into that.”
Tacopina then accused Lewin of inaaprioate communications with Mayers’ mother, telling her that Mayers should have taken the plea deal that was offered.
“I’ve heard enough,” Arnold said. He ordered both sides not to speak to one another outside of the trial. Later, he joked to Tacopina: “We could get an octagon in here.”
The muscular Tacopina, who favors tailored jackets with robust shoulder pads and speaks with a thick Brooklyn accent replied, “It would be a very quick outcome.”
Mayers, a Grammy winning recording artist in his own right, is the common law husband of the much more famous Rihanna. The possibility of her appearance in court has been the topic of much speculation. On Tuesday, Tacopina suggested that the pop start may appear in court sometime this week.