A$AP Rocky Closing Arguments Begin, Rihanna Appears in Court With Toddler Sons
A$AP Rocky’s firearm assault trial entered closing arguments today, with prosecutors casting the Grammy-nominated rapper as the antagonist of a street scuffle that allegedly ended in real gunfire on a Hollywood street corner three years ago. The rapper’s defense, meanwhile, said prosecutors utterly failed to prove their case, painting alleged victim A$AP Relli as an “angry pathological liar” who “manufactured evidence” to demand money.
Addressing jurors first, Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec sought to upend Rocky’s claim he was only carrying a prop gun when he met Relli, born Terell Ephron, near a parking garage outside the W Hollywood hotel on Nov. 6, 2021, amid a breakdown in their 15-year friendship. But just minutes into his summation, all eyes turned to the gallery door as Rocky’s partner Rihanna walked into the courtroom with the couple’s two toddler sons, RZA and Riot. The superstar singer took a seat in the front row with her youngest child on her lap. Rocky, born Rakim Mayers, sat feet away at the defense table, quietly listening as Przelomiec continued his presentation.
More from Rolling Stone
“This is not a difficult case…. There’s only one important question in this case, one critical question that you have to answer,” Przelomiec said. “That is: Did Mr. Mayers, the man at the table, did he use a real gun or did he use a fake gun?”
In comments ranging from sarcastic to indignant, Przelomiec scoffed at Mayers’ claim he was carrying a prop gun, calling it “absurd” and “insulting to your intelligence.” He argued the gun was real and claimed surveillance clips from two locations prove it. He argued that when the gun was first brandished at a parking garage across from the hotel, Mayers’ friend A$AP Illz appeared to quickly back away. He said when the gun appeared a second time a block away, Relli, born Terell Ephron, dove behind Illz, born Illijah Ulanger, to use him as a “human shield.”
“Nobody on that video is acting like that’s a fake gun. They’re all reacting to a real gun,” he said. “If he’s holding a prop gun, and Mr. Ephron knows it’s a prop gun, why does he have to run toward Mr. Ephron? Why does he have to move at all? Why does he have to lunge [and] try to duck and dodge, side to side, to try to get a line of sight around Illz?”
When it was his turn, lead defense attorney Joseph Tacopina said “common sense” proved the firearm was known to be a prop gun. Why else would Ephron keep pursuing Mayers from the garage to the second location, loudly berating him and “almost begging him to shoot,” he asked rhetorically. He also asked why Mayers would fire real bullets with Ephron grabbing Ulanger. “According to them, he shot a gun, a real gun, at his friend Illz. That makes no sense,” Tacopina said. “There’s no way.”
The high-powered defense attorney argued Ephron repeatedly perjured himself on the stand. “It was like a perjury miniseries,” he mocked, focusing much of his attention on what was one of the most dramatic twists of the trial. With the help of video, he brought jurors back to his cross-examination of Ephron where he asked if Ephron had ever fired a 9 mm semiautomatic before the incident. After Ephron said no, Tacopina asked if maybe he did it at a shooting range. “You heard me, definitely no,” Ephron answered. Tacopina reminded jurors that he then confronted Ephron with video showing Ephron at a shooting range on Oct. 19, 2021, two weeks before the incident. Ephron responded by testifying that the video was likely from a gun range in New Jersey, definitely not Los Angeles. Three days later, Ephron returned to the witness stand and said he did some “homework” over the weekend and determined the range was actually the Los Angeles Gun Club. Tacopina argued today that Ephron was forced into the about-face because a Twitter user posted an interior photo of the Los Angeles Gun Club that appeared “identical” to the Ephron video.
“Remember how that all played out here when considering his credibility,” Tacopina said. “There’d be no reason to lie about that unless he had to cover up something.”
Tacopina argued Ephron had access to spent 9 mm shell casings in Los Angeles two weeks before the incident and tried to pass two of them off as spent cartridges from the alleged shooting. He questioned how seven LAPD officers could spend 20 minutes searching the scene with their powerful flashlights and find “nothing,” but then Ephron returned with his girlfriend shortly before midnight and found two casings within minutes using only the light on his phone.
“If the word of any witness ever deserved to be tested in this case, it’s Terell Ephron’s. [He’s] a man whose tongue is a stranger to the truth,” Tacopina said. The lawyer also questioned why prosecutors never used GPS data to confirm Ephron went back to the scene and never called Ephron’s girlfriend to the stand. “If Mr. Ephron’s girlfriend could corroborate his claim, don’t you think you would have heard from her?” he asked.
Tacopina also urged jurors to remember the casings were tested for fingerprints, but none were found. He said a police witness testified that “rain, water, cars, and even wind” could interfere with the collection of a print. “Imagine that, maybe wind wiped the fingerprints,” he said with exasperation. “Are you kidding me, wind? Wind knocked a fingerprint off a shell casing? That’s an excuse, not a fact.”
The closing arguments followed an 11-day trial spread across four weeks in which prosecutors presented lengthy testimony from Ephron along with a woman who watched the incident from a seventh-floor balcony and four investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department. Mayers declined to testify in his own defense. His star witness was A$AP Twelvyy, born Jamel Phillips, a fellow Harlem rapper and A$AP Mob member who also was with him that night. Phillips told jurors both he and Ephron knew the gun was a prop. He said when the prop gun first appeared, Ephron taunted Mayers, “Shoot that fake-ass gun.”
Mayers, 36, is fighting two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm. He’s facing up to 24 years in prison if convicted as charged, though he would likely receive much less. The “Sundress” rapper claims the gun was a prop obtained from the “D.M.B.” video he filmed with Rihanna in the Bronx in July 2021. His defense claims Ephron was the aggressor that night, knew the gun was fake and later concocted evidence to shake him down for money.
Prosecutors allege Mayers fired two 9 mm bullets at Ephron during the height of their argument at the corner of Selma Avenue and Vista Del Mar Avenue. During his direct testimony, Ephron said one bullet grazed his left hand, leaving visible wounds under his knuckles.
In his closing today, Przelomiec said even though no one got seriously injured, the case was still serious considering someone else could have been hit in that “busy area of Hollywood” on a Saturday night. He conceded that video from the first confrontation at the entrance of a parking garage didn’t capture the moment Mayers allegedly pointed the gun at Ephron, but he said that didn’t matter. The video showed the alleged gun in Mayers’ hands, and that was enough, he argued.
“The moment the defendant pulled that gun out, armed himself and was capable of inflicting injury on Mr. Ephron, that crime was completed at that moment,” he said. “The gun does not have to be pointed directly at Mr. Ephron…. It does not even need to be fired.”
During his two days testifying as the defense’s star witness, Phillips told jurors that everyone allegedly knew Mayers was carrying a fake gun, claiming he carried it as a deterrent because he was the victim of prior violence and a stalker. Under oath, Phillips testified that Ephron was the initial aggressor when they all met up the night of the incident. He said Mayers tried to walk away, but Ephron pursued them around a corner, taunting Mayers. Phillips further claimed Ephron physically attacked Ulanger once they reached the corner of Selma Avenue and Vista Del Mar Avenue, leading Mayers to fire two blanks as warning shots to scare him off.
For his part, Ephron testified that Mayers grabbed him first during their initial scuffle outside the hotel and threatened to kill him. He said he only put his hands on Ulanger to avoid getting shot. He described feeling like he was “in a movie” during the incident. He admitted filing a $30 million lawsuit but said it was only fair considering his life has been a “living hell” ever since. He said he’s been labeled a “snitch” and lost his music management company because no artists want to work with him anymore.
Both sides have claimed the blurry surveillance video of the alleged shooting supports their rendition of events. It was recorded with no sound, but prosecutors synchronized it with the sound of two loud pop recorded from a different camera around the corner. Mayers’ lawyers used the same methodology to come up with their own synchronization. In the prosecution’s version, the first pop comes just before Ephron tangles with Ulanger. In the defense version, the first pop comes after Ephron is seen in contact with Ulanger, supporting the defense claim Mayers fired to defend Ulanger. The judge allowed both videos to be admitted, leaving jurors with the task of determining which made more sense.
On Tuesday, Judge Mark S. Arnold told jurors for the first time that they could consider a secondary basis to acquit Mayers if they simply don’t accept that he was carrying a prop gun. The judge said if jurors determine Mayers “reasonably believed” that he or one of friends with him that night were in “imminent danger” of suffering bodily injury — and that a reasonable amount of force was necessary to defend against that danger — they could find Mayers not guilty on the basis of self-defense.
After jurors filed out for the morning break, Mayers walked over and picked up one of the couple’s sons and sat down with Rihanna on the bench. The toddlers did not return for the afternoon session. Closing arguments are scheduled to resume Friday.
Best of Rolling Stone
Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
