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Everything to Know About A$AP Rocky’s Assault Trial

The rapper is facing serious jail time.

On November 6, 2021, in Hollywood, A$AP Rocky allegedly fired shots from a handgun at A$AP Relli, a fellow member of the A$AP Mob and Rocky’s childhood friend. Relli testified in 2023 that the bullets grazed his knuckles and that he had to seek medical treatment after returning to New York.

Rocky was arrested over the incident in LAX in April 2022 and was eventually charged with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon. Now nearly four years later, A$AP Rocky is finally in the courtroom and is maintaining his innocence. 

 

What happened back in November 2021?

Security footage from the day shows a group of men (including A$AP Rocky) pushing and shoving one another until, eventually, the group scatters, and one of the men sprints away from the scene. There isn’t an apparent shooting in that section of the video, but later on, two shots can be heard firing, which is the probable cause that took the case to trial. 

In November 2023, A$AP Relli appeared in court to share his side of the story. 

Relli testified that he believed Rocky had promised to pay for the funeral expenses of one of their friends and failed to deliver. So, he sent him a text on Oct 28, 2021, that said, ‘You so fucking fake it’s sad.’” He later found out after the incident that Rocky did actually pay for the funeral expenses. 

With bad blood between the former friends now brewing, Rocky asked Relli to meet on November 6, 2021, in Los Angeles to talk everything out. With A$AP Illz and A$AP Twelvyy allegedly alongside him, Relli stated that Rocky pulled out a gun and said “I’ll kill you right now,” but put it away since people were nearby. 

Relli continued to bad mouth Rocky, saying “how he failed friends from back home, and one was suffering from a crack addiction while another was living in the projects.” This allegedly pushed Rocky to pull out the gun and fire shots — one that grazed Relli’s knuckles, and supposedly, two or three more missed shots were let off before Rocky allegedly sprinted away. 

 

A$AP Rocky isn’t backing down

The trial officially kicked off with jury selection on January 21. But before it got underway, Rocky had a potential plea deal on the table. The prosecution offered him a deal that would have included three years of probation, a seven-year suspended prison sentence, and 180 days in county jail in exchange for a guilty plea to the first charge. However, Rocky “respectfully declined” the offer.

Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, revealed to Rolling Stone that they have two witnesses who will testify that the gun seen in the security footage, which Rocky allegedly used during the incident, was actually a “starter pistol prop gun” intended for security purposes.

If convicted of all charges, the rapper can face up to 24 years in jail. The trial is already making headlines, with civil rights activist Al Sharpton pointing out the alleged lack of Black representation in the jury. 

“…Out of one hundred and six (106) people called to potentially sit as jurors in A$AP Rocky’s trial in Los Angeles, there are only 4 black people, I have been closely in touch with A$AP Rocky’s friends, and though I do not know the particulars of the trial, I do know he deserves to be judged fairly by his peers, as is his Constitutional right…” Sharpton posted on X on January 22. 

Sharpton isn’t alone, with the rapper’s fans and the rest of the hip-hop community tuning in to see how everything goes down.