The American rapper attended an arraignment hearing in Los Angeles following charges related to an incident in Hollywood in November 2021.
Rapper A$AP Rocky entered a not guilty plea during an arraignment hearing in Los Angeles on Monday (8 January), where he faced charges of firing a gun at a former friend and collaborator in a November 2021 shooting in Hollywood.
Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, appeared in court accompanied by defence attorneys Sarah Cohen and Joe Tacopina.
While the “Praise the Lord” rapper did not make a statement, Tacopina informed reporters that A$AP Rocky is eager to move past the case, and they have evidence that may not be known to the prosecutors.
The 35-year-old rapper, fashion mogul and two-time Grammy nominee is in a relationship with Rihanna, with whom he has two young sons.
Judge Karla Kerlin set a pre-trial hearing date for 6 March.
What are the details of his prosecution?
U.S singer, Rakim Mayers, from A$AP Rocky performs on stage during the Wireless Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, Sunday, July 14, 2013.Credit: Jonathan Short/Jonathan Short/Invision/AP
The charges include two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and one count of personal use of a firearm.
A$AP Rocky was arrested in November 2022, accused of shooting his former friend Terell Ephron, who testified that Rocky pulled a gun on him and fired shots that grazed his knuckles on 6 November 2021.
At the first day of the hearing last November, Ephron testified that he and Rocky, a friend since childhood, had belonged to the same collective of musicians and artists at their New York high school.
He said their relationship had started to go sour and resulted in the standoff in Hollywood on 6 November 2021, when he said Rocky first pulled a gun on him, and in a later confrontation fired shots that grazed Ephron’s knuckles.
“You need nothing more than Mr. Ephron’s testimony by itself,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told the judge, adding that the surveillance video that captured parts of the incident “corroborates exactly what Mr. Ephron said.”
Tacopina countered that “there are some real problems with the testimony of the complainant,” adding, “I think there’s not enough evidence.”
Rocky could get up to 24 years in prison if convicted on all charges, prosecutors said.