- Judge rules A$AP Rocky must stand trial on charges he shot at friend
On Monday, a Los Angeles judge found enough evidence to try A$AP Rocky for firing a gun at a former buddy and collaborator near a Hollywood hotel in 2021.
After a day and a half of testimony from two witnesses, Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar ruled at a preliminary hearing. Rocky pleaded not guilty to two felony accusations of assault with a semiautomatic handgun and showed no expression.
The 35-year-old rapper, fashion mogul, and two-time Grammy nominee has two boys with Rihanna.
He may serve 24 years in prison if convicted on all charges, officials said.
Villar said “the totality of the video and testimony” supports a trial for the defendant. She stressed that preliminary hearings require less evidence than trials.
“We’re not sad, not surprised, we anticipated to go to trial, we’ve been prepared for trial all along,” Rocky’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said outside court. “Rocky is going to be vindicated when all this is said and done, without question.”
The hearing continued Monday after a long delay. Terell Ephron testified that he and Rocky, a boyhood friend, were members of the same New York high school band and artist collective.
Ephron said their relationship had soured, up to the Hollywood standoff on November 6, 2021, when Rocky pulled a gun on him and fired shots that grazed his knuckles.
“You need nothing more than Mr. Ephron’s testimony by itself,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told the judge before her ruling, adding that the security video that captured sections of the incident “corroborates exactly what Mr. Ephron said.”
Tacopina replied, “there are some real problems with the testimony of the complainant,” and “I think there’s not enough evidence.”
While questioning a police detective earlier Monday, Tacopina learned that seven officers who searched a sidewalk and street 20 minutes after the shots were allegedly fired found no evidence of the shooting and that Ephron recovered two 9 mm shell casings an hour after the standoff.
Tacopina revealed body camera footage of the 10-minute ground search by officers. Ephron, who first went to police to report the occurrence two days later, turned over the shot casings, which the investigator stated had no readable fingerprints on them.
Prosecutors played a video from near the location showing no persons but two gunshots. A man runs around a corner, then walks. The video doesn’t identify the individual, but LAPD Detective Frank Flores said it’s Rocky.
When Rocky was searched, Flores testified that no 9 millimetre pistol was found.
Prosecutors revealed security footage of a man in a hooded sweatshirt with a gun and another showing his face without a gun. Flores said the photographs proved it was Rocky.
Tacopina, who is representing Donald Trump in his New York criminal case, questioned the detective saying authorities had no means of knowing if the revolver was loaded or real.
“That gun or whatever it was was not tested, right?” Tacopina asks. “No, it was never recovered,” Flores replied.
Tacopina: “You’re not sure if it’s an operable gun or a non-operable gun or whatever?”
In “Without having it, I can’t tell you whether it’s operable,” the detective answered.
Tacopina also questioned why Ephron waited until he returned to New York to seek medical treatment for a minor hand injury.
Showing the detective a photo of the scraped fingers, he joked, “It’s a miracle he survived that shooting.”
The judge repeatedly told Tacopina to adjust his tone.
Rocky was charged in August after being apprehended at LAX in April. He arrived in court Monday morning wearing a black suit, sunglasses, and a face mask after spending the weekend at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, where he was Puma’s creative director in its F1 collaboration.
He has released little music in recent years and is most recognised as Rihanna’s boyfriend, fashion influencer, and co-parent, with whom he delivered a second baby in May. Both of his 2013 and 2015 studio albums topped the Billboard 200.
Tacopina said outside court, “He would never subject his family, he wants to shield them, he’s handling it like Rocky would handle something, he protects his family.” Rihanna did not attend the preliminary sessions.
Rocky became an odd cause for then-President Donald Trump, who tried to get him released and repatriated to the US following a 2019 incident in Sweden. His “conditional sentence” meant no jail time after he was convicted of assault.
