A$AP Rocky expressed gratitude to members of the jury after being found not guilty on all counts in his felony shooting trial.
The rapper, 38, told the jurors ‘thank y’all for saving my life’ as they exited the courtroom.
The hip hop star — who faced up to 24 years in prison if convicted — also thanked Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold, stating, ‘Thank you, your honor.’
At the age of 36, Rihanna, who is a mother of two, cried when the verdict was announced, and he hurried to hug her. In a Los Angeles courtroom, there was an eruption of joyful screams as Rocky and his famous girlfriend embraced and wept.
Afterwards, outside the courtroom, Rocky expressed gratitude towards God and the jury. Meanwhile, his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, mentioned that Rocky aimed to protect Rihanna from the trial, but even ‘wild horses’ couldn’t stop her from being there.
Afterwards, Rihanna took to her Instagram Stories, writing, ‘The glory belongs to God and God alone! Thankful, humbled by his mercy!’
The three-time Grammy nominee was charged with a pair of felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in the shooting.
The jury reached a unanimous decision after deliberating for about three hours following the conclusion of closing arguments in the case last week.
Rocky – whose legal name is Rakim Mayers – risked more than 24 years in prison if he had been convicted.
Just before the trial began, he rejected the prosecution’s proposal of a mere six-month jail sentence, probation, and other terms if he agreed to plead guilty to one charge.
Insisting on his innocence, and with two young toddler sons at home along with his longtime partner Rihanna, Rocky decided to gamble that a jury would feel the same. It paid off. The jurors felt at least that there was reasonable doubt of his guilt.
Rihanna attended the trial sporadically and brought the couple’s two sons – 2-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and 1-year-old Riot Rose Mayers – for some of the closing arguments.
The verdict came at the height of Rocky’s fame, if not the pinnacle of his music career.
The three-time Grammy nominee has a banner year in the works, and can now look to it without the threat of prison hanging over him.
He is scheduled to headline the Rolling Loud music festival in March; he is one of the celebrity co-chairs of fashion´s biggest night, the Met Gala, in May; and he stars with Denzel Washington in director Spike Lee´s film ‘Highest 2 Lowest,’ set for release in early summer.
Prosecutors and their witnesses said that he was beefing with a former friend, A$AP Relli, with whom he had been in a crew who called themselves the A$AP Mob since high school.
They said the two men met up in Hollywood on Nov. 6, 2021, and after a scuffle Rocky pulled the gun and fired twice at Relli, who said one of the shots grazed his knuckle but was not seriously hurt.
Rocky´s lawyer Joe said in his closing argument that Relli is ‘an angry pathological liar’ who ‘committed perjury again and again and again and again.’
Rocky´s lawyers and witnesses they called said Rocky had shot a prop gun that only fires blanks, which he had been carrying for security since taking it from a music video set months earlier. They said he fired it as a warning because Relli was attacking another member of their crew.
The jurors were told that despite three years passing since the incident, no one mentioned the phony gun to authorities until the day jury selection began at the trial.
They were also instructed that if they found that Rocky reasonably believed that he or one of the two friends with him that night were in imminent danger of injury, and that he used reasonable force, they could find the defendant not guilty.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether they reached the verdict because they believed he was in fact carrying a prop gun or that he acted in self-defense. They did not have to agree on their reasoning, or explain it outside of the jury room. They just had to reach the same conclusion.
Rocky opted not to testify in his own defense.
Deputy District Attorney John Lewin told jurors in closing arguments to disregard the presence of Rihanna amid the trial.
Lewin adding that he believed that the SOS songstress brought their children to the legal proceedings to sway the jury toward a not guilty verdict.
‘You are not allowed to consider how this might affect Rihanna and his kids,’ Lewin told jurors. ‘We are all responsible for our own actions in the world.’
After the verdict, Tacopina said outside the courthouse that ‘Rocky did not want her here, I will tell you that.’
Lewin told jurors, ‘You are not allowed to consider how this might affect Rihanna and his kids – we are all responsible for our own actions in the world.’
Defense lawyer Tacopina pushed back on the assertion, saying A$AP Rocky ‘did not want her here’ there in the first place.
A$AP Rocky ‘wanted to shield [Rihanna] from’ the emotionally-draining court proceedings, Tacopina said, quoting the Rolling Stones in adding that ‘wild horses couldn´t keep her away.’
A$AP Rocky had been more than a half-hour late in arriving for the verdict reading – and ‘looked shaken and tense as he waited for it,’ the AP reported.
His lawyer Tacopina said that ‘there was a moment when before we heard the words from the clerk, he didn´t know if he was going to be spending the next two decades in jail or going home.’
Tacopina said A$AP Rocky’s physical reaction to the verdict – leaping in celebration toward Rihanna after hearing he was legally cleared – was ‘insane’ in a wonderful way.
‘I didn´t know how athletic he was,’ Tacopina said. ‘That was raw emotion, you guys got to see that. Even for us it was insane.’
District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman’s office released a statement on Instagram after A$AP Rocky was cleared in the case.
‘While today’s verdict is not the outcome we sought, we respect the jury’s decision and the integrity of our justice system,’ Hochman said. ‘Our office remains committed to seeking accountability for those who break the law, no matter their status or influence.
Hochman said that Hollywood celebrities should not expect special treatment if they break the law.
‘Fame does not place anyone above the law, and we will not waver in our pursuit of justice for victims and the community,’ Hochman said.
Hochman wrapped up in saying, ‘Our mission remains clear: to uphold the law, protect public safety, and ensure justice for all.’
A$AP Rocky, whose recent singles include Highjack, Tailor Swif and Ruby Rosary, has a busy slate professionally following the conclusion of the case.
Next month, he will be at the Rolling Loud music festival in Los Angeles, as he’s one of the principle headliners along with Playboi Carti and Peso Pluma.
This May, he’s slated to be a celebrity co-chair at the Met Gala, where Rihanna has made for multiple memorable moments in the past.
He also appears this summer in the upcoming Spike Lee motion picture Highest 2 Lowest, along with an impressive cast headlined by Denzel Washington and featuring Jeffrey Wright, Dean Winters and Ice Spice.
