A$AP Rocky's assault case heads to trial after LA judge rejects dismissal motion
The rapper and partner of megastar Rihanna is charged with two counts of first-degree assault for a November 2021 confrontation with a longtime friend.
A judge in Los Angeles on Friday declined to dismiss assault charges against rapper A$AP Rocky, clearing the way for a trial over a 2021 confrontation with a longtime friend in Hollywood.
Lawyer Joe Tacopina argued the judge in Rocky’s preliminary hearing wrongly curtailed cross-examination of the alleged victim, Terrell “Relli” Ephron, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Karla Kerlin said Tacopina conducted “a vigorous and aggressive cross-examination.”
“Based on the two transcripts, the credibility of the victim was strenuously tested by the cross-examination in this case, and it gives a flavor of what’s to come should this matter proceed to trial,” Kerlin said.
Kerlin rescheduled Rocky’s trial for Nov. 12, with a pre-trial conference scheduled for Oct. 22. On Sept. 4, she’ll review personnel records for two police detectives and decide if any should be released to the defense as potentially exculpatory or helpful defense evidence under the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court Brady v. Maryland. The in-camera review responds to another motion from Tacopina.
Rocky did not attend Friday’s hearing. Tacopina said afterward “we were not overly optimistic” the judge would dismiss the case.
“We understood the likelihood of success on this motion was slim. It’s just part of the process. We had to make the motion, obviously, to secure and preserve the record,” said Tacopina, New York City-based lawyer whose past clients include rapper Meek Mill and former President Donald Trump. He appeared in court Friday with his law partner, Chad Siegel, and Los Angeles-based lawyer Sara Caplan.
“Rocky and his family are very eager to get this thing to trial,” Tacopina said, adding that the rapper “is fully immersed in fatherhood right now.”
“Mentally, he’s prepared for the case,” Tacopina said. “We talk quite frequently about it. But you know, he’s letting us do our jobs. And right now, what I told him was take care of the kids, take care your family, take care of your life and your career, and I’ll let you know when I need you.”
Tacopina said Rocky and his partner, megastar Rihanna, are “focusing on what’s important.”
“He’s as tough as nails and yeah, you know, we’re confident that justice will prevail,” Tacopina said.
Judge M.L. Villar in November determined enough evidence exists to support two counts of first-degree assault against 35-year-old Rocky, legal name Rakim Mayers, for the Nov. 6, 2021, confrontation and alleged shooting. Ephron testified in the prelim that a bullet fired by Rocky grazed his knuckles.
Rocky was arrested in April 2022 at the Los Angeles airport as he returned from Barbados with Rihanna. Police raided the couple’s home, and Rocky soon posted $550,000 bond and has been out of custody since. He’s traveled internationally, including meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris in January.
Ephron, meanwhile, is suing Rocky and Tacopina for defamation, and he’s represented by Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez of Brown Rudnick LLP, the same lawyers who represented Johnny Depp in his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard. They have another lawsuit against Rocky for assault, battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Tacopina’s dismissal motion argued Judge Villar wrongly sustained objections in several areas, including regarding Ephron’s lawsuits, which Tacopina said goes to his financial motives, as well as firearms he owns, his 2013 misdemeanor contempt conviction in New York state and he and his girlfriend’s return to the alleged shooting scene to collect shell casings.
The motion said Villar’s probable cause finding rested on Ephron’s testimony, but Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec said in his opposition that surveillance cameras recorded the sound of gunfire.
“The defense is also incorrect in their argument that no evidence was presented that the defendant’s firearm was ‘operable and loaded.’ Specifically, Mr. Ephron testified that the defendant pointed his firearm at Mr. Ephron and that the defendant discharged the firearm,” Przelomiec wrote. “The video evidence captured the defendant discharging his firearm, at least twice, toward Mr. Ephron.”
Przelomiec said in court that Judge Villar heard the video and audio and concluded “that you can hear two gunshots.”
Judge Kerlin said Friday that Tacopina was allowed to ask questions on each topic he feels was wrongly restricted.
“I see the defense feels they should have had further opportunity. But there is inquiry into each of those areas,” she said.
“The prelim is not intended to be a first trial,” the judge continued.
Kerlin spent 18 years with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to the bench in 2008.
She said Friday the case may be reassigned to another judge for trial, possibly a judge on the courthouse’s 9th floor, where complex cases are tried. Rocky’s case isn’t complex, but it’s high-profile and may require extra security, she said.
Judge Villar allowed photography and video during the prelim. Here’s a video of closing arguments:
Here’s my article on Relli’s testimony:
Judge tosses $4.7 billion jury verdict against NFL
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a $4.7 billion jury verdict against the National Football League over its Sunday Ticket TV package because he said the damages amount was based on “flawed methodologies” by plaintiffs’ experts.
“Even if the Court did not find that judgment as a matter of law was appropriate, the Court would have vacated the jury’s damages verdict, remitted Defendants’ award to nominal damages, and conditionally granted a new trial based on the jury’s irrational damages award,” according to an order from U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez.
The ruling is a big loss for plaintiff’s attorneys at Susman Godfrey LLP after a jury in June ordered the NFL to pay $96.9 million to the commercial subscription class and $4.6 billion to the residential class in a class action alleging a years-long conspiracy between DirectTV, Fox Sports and CBS to make Sunday Ticket unaffordable for most consumers.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and NFL Commission Roger Goodell testified in the trial, as did Sean McManus, former chairman of CBS Sports. The plaintiffs experts were Daniel Rascher, an economics professor at San Francisco State University, and John Zona.
Rascher testified the NFL owed about $7 billion under a theory that considered the money subscribers could have saved had the 32 teams licensed the broadcast rights to their games individually instead of the league controlling everything. Another damages theory of about $3.5 billion was based on what consumers could have saved if Sunday Ticket was available through competition.
Guiterrez, however, said Rsascher’s and Zona’s testimony is invalid.
“But without Dr. Rascher’s and Dr. Zona’s testimonies, it is impossible for a jury to determine on a class-wide basis that Sunday Ticket subscribers would have indeed paid less in the absence of Defendants’ anticompetitive conduct,” according to Gutierrez’s 16-page order.
Previous coverage:
Young Thug / YSL trial update
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker is not calling a mistrial in the Young Thug / YSL racketeering conspiracy trial in Atlanta, and she’s set to issue a ruling on the previous judge’s ex parte meetings with prosecutors that the defense lawyers probably won’t like.
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Gentleman Joey ;) love to see it.