Lawyers claim

A$AP Rocky sat in a California courtroom Friday as prosecutors told jurors he fired a 9mm semi-automatic pistol during a fight with former friend A$ap Relli three years ago Multiple shots fired. Rocky's attorney says the rapper didn't shoot anyone, calling Reilly's accusations a lie and a shot at cash.

In a dramatic rebuttal on the first day of Rocky's shooting trial, defense attorney Joseph Tacopina said publicly for the first time that Rocky, who was born Rakim Mayers, ) admitted that he had pulled the trigger on the firearm he was carrying that night. He said Mayers fired “two warning shots” from his “starting gun” to break up a scuffle allegedly between Relli and A$ap Illz, their A$AP mob collective Another member of the group, whose legal name is Illijah Ulanger.

“Rocky fired the prop gun,” Tacopina told the jury. “He fired it twice, hoping the sound would be enough to scare Relli and protect Illz.”

Defense lawyers said evidence would show many in Meyers' inner circle knew he was carrying a “fake gun” to “scare off his attacker” after he was the victim of previous violence and stalking. Tacopina said the specific gun in Rocky's hand that night was a starter “prop gun” from a music video he had filmed with his superstar girlfriend Rihanna a few months earlier. Mother of his two young sons.

“This case is about one man's lies, jealousy and greed,” Tacopina said, calling Reilly “the source of all the evidence.” “Ladies and gentlemen, this case is all about money.” The evidence will show that this was nothing more than a lump sum of money,” Tacopina said. “The evidence will show that Relli was trying to make money off a fabricated story. “

In the state's opening statement, prosecutors presented some of their own evidence for the first time. They described a 911 call in which a woman said she witnessed “a shooting” and showed a photo of a 9mm gun magazine allegedly recovered from Rocky's home during the search.

“This is not a complex case,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told the jury in downtown Los Angeles. He asked the group of seven women and five men to “don't leave your common sense at the door.”

Rocky, 36, who is on trial for allegedly shooting Relli, born Terell Ephron, first claimed in open court that the gun was a starter pistol and was unable to fire an actual bullet.

Much of Przelomiec's opening statement covered video evidence presented at the November 2023 probable cause hearing. He played back the 911 call to set up the scene and tie Mayers to the alleged shooting. “There was a shooting,” the female caller, a nearby resident, told the court. “We looked. … The guy in the black sweatshirt pulled out a gun.” The woman later refused to talk to police, Przelomiec said.

Prozelomiec showed grainy video of the alleged incident, in which four small figures were seen at the intersection of Selma Ave. and Vista del Mar Ave. The blurry black and white video shows no muzzle flash and there is no sound when recording. Video played in court Friday was synchronized with two loud sounds captured during a preliminary hearing in November 2023 that were seen as audio from surveillance video recorded at a building around the corner. . Przelomiec told jurors they were able to capture the two videos thanks to a security floodlight that was activated at the time of the incident.

Przelomiec also said for the first time that when police searched Mayers' home on April 20, 2022, they found a semi-automatic pistol magazine loaded with six 9mm Luger rounds in a box in a bedroom closet. He said, “No handguns are freeloaders,” but two of the floats recovered from the scene by Ephron were said to be 9mm barreled.

Tacopina said in Duel's speech that seven police officers responded to the scene of the alleged shooting and never found any emplacements. Surveillance video of Ephron returning to the scene shortly afterward showed him searching the same area he had previously searched with a flashlight, he said. The lawyer also told jurors that the bullet brand in Mayers House's magazine did not match the casing handed over by Ephron. Witnesses are expected to provide further evidence that the magazine belongs to someone other than Mayer, he said.

Mayers' trial on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon came at a critical time in his life and career. He is now a father of two with superstar singer and “life partner” Rihanna. He's also starting to headline Los Angeles' Rolling Loud California music festival in March and serving as co-chair of the next Met Gala in May, along with Pharrell Williams and LeBron James. Music fans are awaiting the release of his fourth studio album don't be stupid. Mayers will be one of the leads in his upcoming “reinterpretation” of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 kidnapping drama. high and low. New movie titled Minimum 2, minimum He was shot to death in New York last year with co-star Denzel Washington and rapper Ice Spice.

With so much at stake, it was a telling moment when Mayers was sentenced to seven years in prison after rejecting a last-minute plea deal from prosecutors that offered him six months in county jail. , was sentenced to 3 years of supervised probation. “I respect that, thank you,” Meyers told the court. If charged, Meyers faces up to 24 years in prison, although prosecutors said they recommended 10 to 12 years. Tacopina repeatedly said he believed the defense stance was “strong.” Meyers has entered and appeared in court this week with a palpable air of confidence.

Mayers was first arrested in connection with the case in April 2022. At the time, police described the incident as an argument between acquaintances that escalated into gunfire. rolling stones Ephron was the first to identify the alleged victim after learning of the civil lawsuit.

At Mayers' probable cause hearing in November 2023, Eflong testified that he and Mayers were fighting because he believed Mayers failed to pay for a friend's funeral . He recalled sending the stinging text on October 28, 2021, because he believed Meyers had “gone over.” “You are so fucking pathetic,” read text displayed on a screen in court. “Never forget who introduced you to this life,” Ephron wrote in another post. He told the court he was the one who brought Meyers into the A$AP fold when they were high school students in New York. (Under cross-examination, Ephron said he eventually learned that Meyers paid for the entire funeral.)

Ephron described the night of the alleged attack, testifying that he was staying at a hotel when Mayers suggested they meet face to face. He claims the meeting turned into an armed ambush, with Mayers brandishing a gun and Ulanger and Jamel da'shawn Phillips a$ap Twelvyy . That argument continued to decline, he said in his testimony. He claimed he taunted Meyers before the rapper turned around and fired a shot that “grazed” the knuckles on his left hand. He claimed he was eager to catch Ulanger to “use him as a shield.” He said Meyers fired two or three more times before everyone fled the scene.

LAPD Detective Frank Flores testified at the 2023 hearing that no weapons had been recovered in the case. He also acknowledged that the video was inconclusive. “(There was) no clear indication of it,” he said. Detectives claimed “collectively” the videos told a plausible story, but Tacopina held off. “I'm not asking for an opinion,” Tacopina interrupted, asking again if the video showed a shooting. The detective responded: “No clear indication.”

Tacopina is an aggressive defense attorney known for representing high-profile clients including Meek Mill, YG, and Donald Trump. “I know Rocky is very protective of Rihanna and doesn't want her anywhere near this procedure. But this is a family decision they made,” he said on January 15.

Tacopina told Judge Mark Arnold on Tuesday that the “Umbrella” singer may make a guest appearance. “I expect it at some point, but certainly not every day, certainly not right now,” Tacopina said.

Judge Arnold asked Rihanna during multiple hearings as the trial progressed. But he also said Meyers' celebrity status had nothing to do with his oversight of the trial. “You're not going to get any special treatment. Your status as an entertainer, as a significant other to Rihanna, that doesn't come to your benefit, that doesn't hurt,” he told the artist.

“You are aware that if convicted, you will be detained and it is likely that you will receive a significant prison sentence?” the judge asked Tuesday.

“Yes, your honor, I'm well aware of that,” Meyers said.