LOS ANGELES (CN) — A$AP Rocky walked out of a Downtown LA courtroom a free man on Tuesday after a jury acquitted the star rapper of two counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon, charges stemming from a 2021 shooting.
As the verdict was being read, a dozen or so of Rocky’s supporters, sitting in the back row, erupted in rapturous cheers. Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, leapt over a wooden barrier to embrace his partner, the pop star Rihanna. He then hugged his legal team. As the jury filed out of the court, he told them: “Thank you all for saving my life. Thank you, thank you for making the right decision.”
Mayers was accused of firing two shots at an old friend, Terell Ephron, another member of the A$AP rap collective who once went by the name A$AP Relli. The two, who met in high school, had a falling out and agreed to meet outside a parking garage in Hollywood. The meeting turned into a scuffle almost immediately; security camera footage taken from just outside the garage clearly showed the two grappling, though they waver in and out of frame. The footage also clearly showed Mayers holding a gun at one point and then putting it back inside his waistband.
Mayers and two other A$AP members walked away from that first flashpoint, down a couple blocks with Ephron following behind, angrily shouting insults. Prosecutors told the jury that Mayers wheeled around and shot at Ephron twice and then fled the scene. Ephron was not seriously hurt — he emerged from the shooting with a scrape on his knuckles that he said came from one of the bullets. He also said he returned to the scene an hour or two later after the police had already searched the area and found two empty shell casings, which he later turned over to the authorities.
The defense argued, rather audaciously, that Mayers’ gun that night was a “prop gun” that he borrowed while shooting a music video and that the shots he fired were blanks. They also argued that Ephron was the aggressor, that it was he who had started the tussle with Mayers, and that Ephron started punching Mayers’ friend, A$AP Illz, before Mayers fired the prop gun. The last argument had a strange logic to it since the defense also argued that Ephron knew the gun was a prop — in other words, that Mayers fired a fake gun at someone who knew it was fake in order to scare them away from beating up a friend.
In an interview with the blogger and YouTuber Nique At Nite, one of the jurors said the jury thought Mayers’ gun was real but that there were “key pieces of evidence that were missing” from the case.
Mayers declined to testify during the roughly three-week trial. The prosecutors’ key witness was Ephron, the alleged shooting victim. He testified for the better part of the week and appeared ornery, disinterested in the proceedings. At times, he gave multiple answers to the same question in quick succession as if he didn’t care if he was telling the truth, just so long as he could get off the witness stand. Mayers attorney, Joe Tacopina, angered Ephron repeatedly during cross-examination.
But if Ephron appeared contradictory and unreliable at times, one piece of evidence — ironically introduced by the defense — backed up his version of events. A phone call recording between Ephron and Wally Sajimi, a friend of both Ephron and Mayers, was played in court. During the conversation, Ephron told Sajimi his version of events: Mayers pulled a real gun and shot two real bullets.
The defense called two other A$AP members, both close friends of Mayers and both of whom are or have been employed by the famous recording artist. Jamel Phillips aka A$AP Twelvyy, Mayers’ former “hype man,” was with Mayers on the night of the shooting. He testified that yes, Mayers routinely carried a prop gun to ward off would-be attackers and stalkers, and yes, people in his inner circle, including Ephron, knew about it. Mayers’ tour manager, Louis Levin, also known as A$AP Lou, testified that he took the prop gun after the shooting and returned it to the music video director to whom it belonged, who then promptly lost it. Levin also testified that a fully loaded 9mm magazine found in Mayers’ home belonged to him and that he mistakenly bought the magazine, took it to Mayers’ house, loaded it, and forgot it there.
During closing arguments, both sides accused the other’s witnesses of perjury. Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec called the prop gun defense “absolutely absurd” and said it had been fabricated by the defense and fed to their two witnesses, whom Przelomiec said had been “coached.”
Tacopina, meanwhile, devoted the lion’s share of his five-and-a-half-hour closing argument to attacking Ephron, whom he called a “clown,” a “parasite,” and “perhaps the most unbelievable witness in the history of jurisprudence.”
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Tacopina said believing Ephron “would not be possible for anyone with a brain. The jury clearly understood that argument.” He also said Ephron should be prosecuted for perjury.
Ephron still has two civil suits pending — one against Mayers for the shooting, the other against both Mayers and Tacopina for defamation.
In a brief written statement, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said: “While today’s verdict is not the outcome we sought, we respect the jury’s decision and the integrity of our justice system. Our office remains committed to seeking accountability for those who break the law, no matter their status or influence.”
The trial was marked by ill feelings, petty squabbling, and accusations of misconduct by both sets of lawyers. Each side said the other deliberately hid evidence during discovery only to disclose it days before or during the trial. Tacopina and Deputy District Attorney John Lewin shouted personal insults at each other multiple times with the jury out of the room. Lewin suggested that the muscular and broad-shouldered Tacopina uses steroids. Tacopina called the more diminutive Lewin a “hunchback.” At one point, they came close to blows. A weary-looking Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold even suggested that they bring an “octagon” into court.
“Clearly, they weren’t receptive to his message and his tactics,” Tacopina said after the verdict, referring to his adversary. “I don’t think a jury wants to see a lawyer out of control.” He added: “The yelling, the screaming, the constant objecting. You know, the jury doesn’t want to be kept away from the facts.”
Lewin did not respond to an email requesting comment.