A$ AP Rocky Should Stand Trial on Charges He Fired Weapon at Previous Pal, Judge Rules

A Los Angeles judge ruled Monday that there suffices proof for A$ AP Rocky to stand trial on charges that he fired a gun at a former friend  and partner outside a Hollywood hotel in 2021.

Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar made the judgment at at an initial hearing, after hearing approximately a day and a half of testament. Rocky has actually pleaded innocent to 2 felony counts of attack with a semiautomatic gun.

The 35-year-old hip-hop star, style magnate and two-time Grammy candidate remains in a relationship with Rihanna, with whom he has two young sons

Villar stated “the totality of the video and testament” reveals there suffices proof for the offender to go to trial. She highlighted that initial hearings have a much lower proof requirement than a trial.

Rocky, being in the courtroom, revealed no noticeable response.

” We’re not dissatisfied, not stunned, we anticipated to go to trial, we have actually been preparing for trial the whole time,” Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, stated outside court. “Rocky is going to be vindicated when all this is stated and done, without concern.”

At the very first day of the hearing, which resumed Monday after a long hold-up, Terell Ephron affirmed that he and Rocky, a pal considering that youth, had actually come from the exact same cumulative of artists and artists at their New york city high school.

He stated their relationship had actually begun to go sour and led to the standoff in Hollywood on Nov. 6, 2021, when he stated Rocky initially pulled a weapon on him, and in a later fight fired shots that grazed Ephron’s knuckles.

Tacopina developed while questioning an authorities investigator that 7 officers who browsed a pathway and street about 20 minutes after the shots were supposedly fired discovered no proof of the shooting, which a set of 9 mm shell housings in authorities belongings were recuperated by Ephron, who went back to the scene about an hour after the standoff.

Tacopina played body electronic camera video of the officers, who browsed the ground for about 10 minutes. Ephron, who initially went to authorities to report the event 2 days later on, turned over the shell housings, which the investigator stated had no recoverable finger prints on them.

District attorneys revealed a different video from near the scene where no individuals are at first noticeable, however what seems like 2 gunshots can be heard. Then a guy comes running around a corner, then slows to a walk. The male’s identity is unclear in the video, however LAPD Investigator Frank Flores affirmed they have actually developed it is Rocky.

Flores affirmed under Tacopina’s questioning that no 9 mm handgun was recuperated when a search warrant was served on Rocky.

District attorneys revealed a still from monitoring video revealing a guy in a hooded sweatshirt whose face is not noticeable holding what seems a weapon, in addition to another image from the exact same video revealing the face of the male in the sweatshirt, without any weapon noticeable. Flores affirmed that the combined images led them to develop it was Rocky.

Tacopina, who is likewise representing Donald Trump in his New york city criminal case and others, pushed the investigator on the weapon, recommending authorities had no chance of understanding whether it was a packed or perhaps genuine weapon.

” That weapon or whatever it was was not evaluated, right?” Tacopina asked. “No, it was never ever recuperated,” Flores stated.

Tacopina asked, “You’re uncertain if it’s an operable weapon or a non-operable weapon or whatever?”

” Without having it, I can’t inform you whether it’s operable,” the investigator responded.

Tacopina likewise attempted to call into question the small injury to Ephron’s hand, questioning why he waited up until he went back to New york city to look for medical treatment.

He revealed the investigator an image of the scraped fingers and stated, sardonically, “It’s a wonder he endured that shooting.”

The judge advised him, among numerous times she informed Tacopina to alter his tone.

Rocky was apprehended at Los Angeles International Airport in the event in April, and charged in August He showed up in the courtroom Monday early morning using a dark match, sunglasses and a face mask, after investing the weekend at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix car race, where he had a prominent role as Puma’s creative director in the clothes brand name’s collaboration with F1.

He has actually launched little music in the last few years, and has actually progressed called the romantic partner, fellow style influencer and co-parent of Rihanna, with whom he had a 2nd kid in Might. His very first 2 studio albums in 2013 and 2015 both went to No. 1 on the Signboard 200.

Rocky likewise ended up being a not likely cause for then-President Donald Trump, who stated he was attempting to get the rap artist released and gone back to the U.S. when he was jailed after a brawl in Sweden in 2019. He was found guilty of assault at trial however was offered a “conditional sentence” that indicated no extra prison time.

In California courts, initial hearings like these are a sort of mini variation of a trial, with just a judge choosing whether enough proof exists to move on. The requirement of evidence for doing so is far lower than what’s needed for criminal regret.