ASAP Rocky was found not guilty on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Tuesday.
The rapper, 36, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom to find out his fate. And it was good news for the star, who immediately ran to his partner Rihanna for an emotional embrace as those in attendance screamed with glee.
The Umbrella singer was sat between his mother and sister as they shared the touching moment following the end of a three-week trial which saw the rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, go free. He was facing a prison sentence that could have run over two decades.
As the couple left the courtroom, three-time Grammy nominee Rocky told the jurors: “Thank y’all for saving my life,” according to AP.
Rocky had been was charged with a pair of felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in a November 2021 shooting in Hollywood of his former friend, A$AP Relli, whose real name is Terell Ephron.
In November 2023, Ephron testified that he and Mayers were high school friends who were previously in the same rap collective. At the pretrial hearing, it was heard that their relationship struggled during Mayers’ rise to fame, with the two former friends agreeing to meet each other on November 6, 2021, to clear the air.
Ephron claimed his then friend had arrived at the meeting point with two men. Prosecutors alleged that the two former pals had a small row before Mayers pulled a gun from his waistband and fired at Ephron. According to Ephron, the gun grazed his knuckles, with the claim supposedly being supported by CCTV footage showing Mayers holding a gun before the alleged shooting.
Rocky denied the accusations and on the eve of trial, the rapper turned down a prosecution offer of just six months in jail, along with probation and other conditions in exchange to pleading guilty to one count. Instead, he continued to insist his innocence. In the end, jurors felt at least that there was reasonable doubt of his guilt. They reached a unanimous decision after deliberating for around three hours following the conclusion of closing arguments in the case last week.
Following the court’s decision Rihanna took to social media to share an expressive post. She wrote on her Instagram Stories: “THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD ALONE! THANKFUL, HUMBLED BY HIS MERCY!” followed by a praying hands emoji.
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