EXCLUSIVE: A$AP Rocky on the ropes? The father of Rihanna’s baby is ordered to return to court for a hearing where the judge will determine if he will stand trial for shooting former friend and fellow rapper A$AP Relli
A$AP Rocky has been ordered back in court for a hearing to determine if he will stand trial for allegedly shooting former friend and rapper A$AP Relli in 2021.
The 34-year-old, who is expecting his second child with superstar singer Rihanna, pleaded not guilty last August to two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm stemming from the incident, and faces up to four years in prison on each charge if convicted. pleaded guilty.
Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers, has been out on $500,000 bail but was absent Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles criminal court where Judge Kerry White scheduled a June 5 preliminary hearing.
A$AP Rocky (pictured at his August 2022 arraignment) is scheduled to appear at a June 5 court hearing in downtown Los Angeles, where a judge will decide whether to try him on two counts of assault with firearm.
The charges stem from an altercation in Hollywood on November 6, 2021 between Rocky and former friend and fellow rapper A$AP Relli, real name Terrell Ephron, who was also a member of the rap group ASAP Mob.
Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was seen attending the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday with his girlfriend Rihanna, with whom he is now expecting his second child.
The charges stem from an altercation in Hollywood in November 2021 between Mayers and fellow rapper Terrell Ephron, a member of the rap group A$AP Mob that started in Harlem in 2006.
Prosecutors say that during the argument, Mayers pointed a gun at Ephron and then fired two shots at him, wounding his hand.
Ephron has filed a civil lawsuit for assault and battery in which his attorneys say Mayers “pulled out a handgun and pointed it deliberately in (Ephron’s) direction and fired multiple shots.”
Adding that Ephron was “in fear for his life,” the lawsuit says he was “struck by projectiles/bullet fragments” causing injuries that required medical attention.
Mayers, who welcomed his first child with Rihanna, 35, last May, was arrested in April last year at LAX airport as he was getting off a private plane from Barbados, where he had vacationed with the winning singer. Multiple Grammy Awards.
Cops held him for a few hours on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, then released him on $550,000 bail and sent the case to the Los Angeles district attorney for prosecution.
Ephron (left) also filed a civil battery and battery lawsuit in which his lawyers claim Mayers “pulled out a gun and pointed it deliberately in (Ephron’s) direction and fired multiple shots.”
Rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty last August. The shooting occurred in November 2021, when his girlfriend, Rihanna, was four months pregnant.
It wasn’t until the following August that LA DA George Gascon decided the charges were serious enough to warrant felony status, rather than a misdemeanor, which would have meant only a maximum of one year in jail for each post.
“Firing a weapon in a public place is a serious crime that could have ended with tragic consequences not only for the person attacked but also for innocent bystanders visiting Hollywood,” Gascón said after announcing the charges.
“My office conducted a thorough review, not the evidence in this case, and determined that adding a special firearm charge was warranted.”
Mayers is also subject to a protective order that requires him to stay away from Ephron for at least 100 years and not to communicate with him.