Yoopya with Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors in Los Angeles reached a verdict Tuesday at the trial of rapper A$AP Rocky, who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend.
The jury of seven women and five men reached their unanimous decision after deliberating for only about three hours after a three-week trial that ended with closing arguments on Friday. The verdict will be read Tuesday afternoon.
The hip-hop star is charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. With a conviction, he could be sentenced to as much as 24 years in prison. He and his attorneys are making their way to the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, where he could be taken into custody if convicted.
Prosecutors said Rocky twice fired a gun at his former longtime friend, who goes by A$AP Relli, during a dispute on a Hollywood street in 2021. Relli, the key witness for the prosecution, said his knuckles were grazed by one of the shots, but he was otherwise uninjured.
The defense argued that Rocky fired blanks from a prop gun that he picked up from a music video set. The jurors were also instructed that they could find him not guilty if they deemed he was acting in self-defense.
The Grammy-nominated hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor is the longtime partner of singing superstar Rihanna. The two 36-year-olds have two toddler sons together. She attended much of the trial and brought their sons to closing arguments last week. It wasn’t immediately clear whether she would be in the courtroom for the reading of the verdict.
Author:
ANDREW DALTON | Dalton covers entertainment for The Associated Press, with an emphasis on crime, courts and obituaries. He has worked for the AP for 20 years and is based in Los Angeles.
