Rapper A$AP Rocky was found not guilty on Feb. 18 of firing a handgun at a former friend on a Hollywood street back in 2021. The Los Angeles jury deliberated for only about three hours before clearing him of two felony assault charges involving a semiautomatic firearm.
At 36, the hip-hop star, fashion mogul, and rising actor—whose real name is Rakim Mayers—was facing more than 24 years in prison if convicted. On the eve of trial, he turned down a plea deal from the prosecution, which would’ve given him just six months in jail, probation, and other conditions if he pleaded guilty to one count.
Instead, he stuck to his claim of innocence, and with his two young sons and longtime partner Rihanna by his side, Rocky gambled that a jury would side with him. And it paid off—the jury found there was reasonable doubt about his guilt.
Rihanna was at the trial off and on, even bringing their two sons, 2-year-old RZA and 1-year-old Riot, to some of the closing arguments.
The verdict comes at a high point in Rocky’s career—while not necessarily at the peak of his music, he’s gearing up for a big year. He’s set to headline the Rolling Loud music festival in March, co-chair the Met Gala in May, and star alongside Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s upcoming film Highest 2 Lowest due out in the summer.
Prosecutors argued that Rocky had a falling out with a former friend, A$AP Relli, a member of the A$AP Mob crew they both joined in high school. The two met up in Hollywood on November 6, 2021, where a fight broke out. Prosecutors said Rocky pulled out a gun and fired twice at Relli, who claimed one of the shots grazed his knuckle, but he wasn’t seriously hurt.
In his closing arguments, Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, called Relli “an angry pathological liar” who “committed perjury again and again.”
Rocky’s legal team argued that the gun in question was a prop gun that only fires blanks, one he had been carrying for security since taking it from a music video set months earlier. They said he fired the gun as a warning when Relli was attacking another member of their crew.
Jurors were told that despite the incident happening three years earlier, no one mentioned the prop gun to authorities until the trial started. They were also instructed that if they believed Rocky reasonably feared for his or his friends’ safety, they could find him not guilty.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the jury believed Rocky was carrying a prop gun or acted in self-defense. They didn’t have to agree on the exact reasoning, just on the verdict.
Rocky chose not to testify in his defense, but Deputy District Attorney John Lewin urged the jurors to focus on the facts and not let the celebrity aspect of the case sway their decision. He also suggested that Rihanna bringing their kids to court was an attempt to manipulate the jury.
