After years of delays, the trial in rapper A$AP Rocky's felony assault case stemming from the alleged 2021 shooting of his former friend A$AP Relli started this week in Los Angeles.
Why Is A$AP Rocky On Trial?
A$AP Rocky, 36, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. A$AP Relli, whose real name is Terell Ephron, claims his friend since high school fired shots at him in Hollywood, which grazed his hand.
If convicted on both counts, A$AP Rocky, who shares two children with girlfriend Rihanna, could get up to 24 years in prison.
A$AP Rocky Denies Plea Deal
Prosecutors offered A$AP Rocky one last plea deal in court Tuesday. If he were to plead guilty to Count 1, they would have asked that the "Fashion Killa" rapper receive 180 days in county jail, with three years' probation and a seven-year suspended prison sentence.
"I respectfully decline, thank you," A$AP Rocky said to Superior Judge Mark Arnold.
Deputy District Attorney John Lewin reportedly turned to A$AP Rocky's mother, Renee Black, and sister, Erika B. Mayers, and told them the rapper should've taken the deal.
"I just hope that he's evaluating everything," Lewin said, legal affairs journalist Meghann Cuniff reported.
Judge Calls A$AP Rocky's Mom 'Very Beautiful'
As jury selection progressed Wednesday, Judge Arnold asked A$AP Rocky about the women seated in his section of the gallery. He identified the women as his mother, Black, and his sister, Erika.
"You can't tell, right, which one's the mom?" said Joe Tacopina, the high-profile attorney representing A$AP Rocky, Cuniff reported.
"You must have had him when you were about 7?" the judge reportedly told Black who said she had A$AP Rocky when she was 26.
"You are very beautiful. That's on the record," Arnold replied.
The Jury
The 12-person jury in A$AP Rocky's trial is made up of seven women and five men. Members of the jury are white, Asian, and Hispanic. There are no Black jurors in this trial, which the Harlem rapper's lawyers took issue with during jury selection.
The four alternate jurors are all women. One woman on the jury is a firearms instructor, with multiple lawyers in her family. One female alternate is an entertainment attorney.
Tacopina told Newsweek on Thursday that the rapper's legal team is OK with having the firearms instructor on the jury because they have "nothing to hide" and wanted a juror familiar with firearms.
No Black Jurors in A$AP Rocky Trial
During jury selection this week, A$AP Rocky's lawyers raised concerns about the lack of Black members in the Los Angeles jury pool.
Attorney Chad Seigel said in court Tuesday that the pool should be stricken because out of the 106 potential jurors, only five were Black. He argued this was only 4.7 percent of the jury pool while Black people represent 9 percent of the Los Angeles population from which the pool is drawn.
Judge Arnold rejected the argument and said, "There's no authority that requires any particular percentage of any ethnicity on a jury," Cuniff reported.
On Wednesday, Tacopina raised the diversity issue again, telling the judge, "We're in downtown Los Angeles. Not a small town in Montana. We're troubled by that, to say the least."
Day 1 - Opening Statements
The prosecution delivered its opening arguments first on Friday.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec claimed A$AP Relli was "confident" that A$AP Rocky, his friend for years, would not shoot him despite bringing a gun to their confrontation in Hollywood in November 2021.
He was so confident, Przelomiec claimed, that A$AP Relli told A$AP Rocky, "You brought a gun. You should shoot it."
Moments following that statement, A$AP Rocky allegedly fired two shots at A$AP Relli with a 9 mm pistol, grazing his hand.
Texts revealed in court showed that A$AP Relli texted A$AP Rocky hours after the alleged incident, saying "Y'all n***** set me up u try to take me from my daughter.
A$AP Rocky replied: "I tried to do what?? N**** i know u hate me, i hate u too."
In his opening statement, Tacopina alleged A$AP Relli is interested in getting money from A$AP Rocky, not justice.
He also claimed the apparent gun A$AP Rocky is holding in survivance footage of the alleged incident is a prop gun, which all of the rapper's friends knew was a fake gun that he carried for security purposes.
Famous First Witness
Tommy Zizzo, the son of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne testified against A$AP Rocky on Friday.
The prosecution called Zizzo as a witness because he is a police officer with the LAPD and responded to a call about the alleged shooting in 2021.
His body cam footage was shown in court Friday. Zizzo ended up in a parking lot near the scene of the alleged shooting where he spoke with nearby residents who reported seeing a shooting.
What People Are Saying
Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton on X, formerly Twitter on Wednesday wrote: "It is absolutely ridiculous that the jury will be not fair and representative, so as to deprive A$AP Rocky of a fair trial...something appears to be very wrong with the system."
Judge Arnold to A$AP Rocky about him not getting "special treatment due to his celebrity status: "Your status as an entertainer? Your status as the significant other of Rihanna? That's not going to go to your benefit, and it's not going to go to your harm."
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani to Newsweek about the "very risky" firearms instructor juror: "What you want if you're the prosecution—this isn't the strongest case in the world—so maybe prosecutors firmly believe that this person is in their camp and on their side. But if she's not, she can easily hang the panel. She can even result in an acquittal."
What Happens Next
A$AP Rocky's trial will resume Monday in Los Angeles.
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Update 01/24/25 8:23 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Erin Keller is a reporter based in Ohio. Her focus is live and trending news, as well as pop culture. ... Read more