Rapper A$AP Rocky has been found not guilty of felony assault, following a high profile trial in Los Angeles.
A jury returned the verdict on Tuesday afternoon after deliberating for just three hours. Upon hearing the verdict, he hip-hop star, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, turned and ran to embrace jubilant supporters behind him – falling over as he did so.
“Thank y’all for saving my life,” Mayers told jurors as they left the courtroom.
The rapper, 36, was charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. If convicted, he could have faced up to 24 years in prison.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed Mayers twice fired a gun at his former longtime friend and fellow rapper A$AP Relli, during a dispute on a Hollywood street in 2021.
Relli, real name Terrell Ephron, was the key witness for the prosecution. In his testimony, which made up the bulk of the prosecution’s case, he said his knuckles were grazed by one of the shots, but he was otherwise uninjured.
The defense argued that Mayers fired blanks from a prop gun that he picked up from a music video set, bringing in two of the rapper’s inner circle to attest to that.
Mayers is the partner of global megastar Rihanna, who attended much of the trial and brought their two toddler sons to closing arguments. However, deputy district attorney John Lewin suggested their presence was an attempt to manipulate jurors.
“They brought in two adorable children… for closing argument,” Lewin said. “They haven’t been here any other time. And you have to ask yourselves, why children that age would be here in a situation like this?”
He added, “You are not allowed to consider how this might affect Rihanna and his kids. We are all responsible for our own actions in the world.”
