LOS ANGELES (AP) — A$AP Rocky and his attorneys revealed that they could have the hip-hop star take the stand Tuesday in his personal protection at his trial over two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
In dialogue with a Los Angeles decide on the final phases of Rocky’s trial late Monday, his lawyer Joe Tacopina mentioned that both his consumer would testify early Tuesday or the protection would relaxation its case. An legal professional for the prosecution mentioned his crew was going to spend the evening getting ready for Rocky’s testimony.
He’s not legally required to testify, and subjecting a defendant to cross-examination is commonly a significant threat in felony circumstances.
Tacopina mentioned earlier than the trial that Rocky was “eager to tell his story. He would love the opportunity to do so.”
The attorneys couldn’t give remark exterior courtroom Monday as a result of a decide has forbidden them from chatting with the media. Rocky faces as much as 24 years in jail if convicted.
The Grammy-nominated hip-hop star, vogue mogul and actor is the longtime associate of singing famous person Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons. She was not within the courtroom Monday, however has appeared sporadically — most not too long ago on Friday, once they left the courthouse collectively for the primary time, strolling arm-in-arm.
She might seem Tuesday to look at him take the stand.
Rocky, whose authorized title is Rakim Mayers, would seemingly testify {that a} gun he fired twice — in a scuffle with a former buddy on a Hollywood road nook in 2021 — was a starter pistol that solely fired blanks, and that he carried it for safety.
On Monday, his tour supervisor grew to become the second witness from Rocky’s interior circle to testify that he carried the phony gun.
Lou Levin mentioned he informed the rapper it made sense to hold it after Rocky’s home had been damaged into by a stalker and others.
“Security and I thought it would be a good idea, because of the prior violence,” Levin said. “It’s just a nonlethal form of self-defense.”
Levin mentioned he obtained the gun from a video shoot in the summertime of 2021, about three months earlier than the incident that led to the costs.
“I was on set and I handled it there, saw him take it,” Levin mentioned.
He informed the jury that he returned the phony gun to the music video’s co-director, who now not had it when Levin requested about it after Rocky’s arrest. The protection mentioned it doesn’t have the starter pistol now.
Authorities additionally didn’t get better the pistol they allege Rocky used.
Levin testified that an ammunition journal present in Rocky’s home by officers serving a search warrant truly belonged to him. The prosecution is arguing the journal may have been suitable with rounds recovered by the person who Rocky is alleged to have shot. Levin mentioned he purchased the flawed kind of journal by mistake and left it at Rocky’s home.
Deputy District Legal professional John Lewin mentioned “you had to come up with a story” to elucidate why he purchased {a magazine} for a kind of gun he didn’t personal, and left it at Rocky’s home. He later angrily known as each facet of the story “a lie.”
“I didn’t have to come up with a story — it’s the truth,” Levin mentioned.
Levin additionally testified that he noticed the prop gun in Rocky’s possession earlier on the day of the incident, although he was not there on the confrontation.
Levin, who additionally goes by A$AP Lou, mentioned he had labored as Rocky’s private assistant since 2010, and have become his tour supervisor round 2017.
Lewin requested him whether or not he had an curiosity in whether or not his shut buddy and someday employer is convicted or not.
“Well, I read that he was facing 24 years, I don’t want to see him go to jail for 24 years.”
The reply was stricken from the file as a result of the jury was not supposed to listen to the potential sentence size.
Rocky is accused of firing two photographs at A$AP Relli, a fellow member of the A$AP Mob, a crew of musicians and different creators they shaped in highschool in New York.
Relli, whose authorized title is Terell Ephron, mentioned his knuckles have been grazed within the taking pictures, however he wasn’t in any other case injured. Police who searched the scene after a report of a taking pictures discovered no bodily proof. However Relli returned to the scene and mentioned he recovered two 9mm shell casings. He took these to police when he went to report the incident two days later.
