A$AP Rocky Declines to Testify As Jurors Told They Can Consider ‘Self-Defense’
After speaking with his lawyer — and likely keeping prosecutors up late preparing for his potential cross-examination — A$AP Rocky decided not to testify in his own defense at his firearm assault trial in downtown Los Angeles. He confirmed the decision today before jurors were seated for the morning session.
“You have a right to get on the stand and give your side of the case,” Judge Mark Arnold told the Grammy-nominated rapper. “Also, you have a right under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution not to testify. You cannot be compelled to testify. It’s totally your decision to either get on the stand or waive your right to testify.” The judge then asked which right Rocky wanted to invoke.
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“I want my right to not testify,” the rapper, born Rakim Mayers, said, seated at the defense table in a double-breasted black jacket and cravat. His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, then rested the “Sundress” rapper’s case. Without Mayers’ testimony, Tacopina built his defense around a lengthy cross-examination of alleged shooting victim A$AP Relli and testimony from two A$AP Mob members who told jurors Mayers was only carrying a prop gun loaded with blanks on Nov. 6, 2021, the night he allegedly opened fire on Relli amid a dispute.
Arnold said closing arguments would begin Thursday. He then read jurors most of their instructions before excusing them for the day. For the first time, jurors heard they’ll be allowed to 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.
One of the friends with Mayers that night was A$AP Twelvyy, born Jamel Phillips. During his two days testifying as the defense’s star witness, Phillips told jurors that everyone allegedly knew Mayers was carrying a fake gun as a deterrent because he was the victim of prior violence and a stalker. Phillips also testified that Ephron was the initial aggressor that night and that Ephron followed Mayers around a corner, taunting him. Phillips further claimed Ephron physically attacked their friend A$AP Illz, born Illijah Ulanger, leading Mayers to fire two alleged warning shots to scare him off.
For his part, Ephron testified that Mayers grabbed him first during their initial scuffle outside a parking garage and threatened to kill him. He said he only put his hands on Ulanger to use him as a “human shield” after Mayers allegedly fired the first shot. He described feeling like he was “in a movie” during the incident and said his life has been a “living hell” ever since due to feeling betrayed and being labeled a “snitch.”
Blurry surveillance video of the alleged shooting was played repeatedly during the trial and will be crucial to any determination of self-defense. It was recorded without sound from across a parking lot. In his opening, Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec showed a version synchronized with the sound of two loud shots recorded by a camera around the corner. He said it was possible to overlap the videos because a floodlight was triggered during the incident and was visible in both recordings. The defense later introduced its own version of the overlapped videos.
In the prosecution’s rendition, the first pop comes just before Ephron tangles with Ulanger. In the defense version, the first pop comes after. The judge allowed both videos to be admitted because they followed the same methodology, and while Ephron claimed the prosecution version was correct, Phillips testified under oath that the defense version was accurate.
Lou Levin, a tour manager also known as A$AP Lou, testified Monday that Mayers got the prop gun from the set of the “D.M.B.” music video he filmed with Rihanna in July 2021. Levin said he personally returned the prop gun to the video’s co-director after the incident with Relli.
Mayers, 36, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and is facing up to 24 years in prison if convicted as charged, though he would likely receive much less. Prosecutors allege he 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.
During cross-examination, Tacopina suggested Ephron planted the two 9mm shell casings that he allegedly collected from the scene after police searched and found no evidence of a shooting. He accused Ephron of fabricating the evidence to support his $30 million lawsuit against Mayers.
Rihanna, who shares two toddler sons with Mayers, has attended five of the 11 days the trial has been in session. On Friday, she gave Mayers a long hug in the public hallway outside the courtroom. A short time later, the couple exited the building arm in arm.
Before the trial started, Tacopina said his client was “eager to tell his story” to jurors. “He would love the opportunity to do so,” the lawyer said. But defendants generally decline to take the witness stand, choosing instead to avoid a potentially bruising cross-examination that might discredit them in the eyes of the jury.
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