As trial closes, A$AP Rocky's defense says fake gun ejected shell casings, too
Closing arguments are to begin Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in Los Angeles. You can watch live on my YouTube channel.
Rapper Rakim “A$AP Rocky” Mayers’s prop gun defense has focused in part on the fact that police found no shell casings at the shooting scene before Terell “Relli” Ephron says he went back and found two.
On Tuesday, Rocky’s lawyers admitted that the prop gun they say Rocky fired ejects spent shell casings.
Rocky’s lawyer Joe Tacopina emphasized in his opening statement that seven police officers searched the shooting scene before Relli said he found the casings, but the officers didn’t find any casings or other evidence of a shooting. He tried to show in cross-examinations that the search was too thorough to have missed anything.
However, in testimony on Monday, Rocky’s tour manager Lou Levin identified the prop gun as a Glock 26. After hearing that, prosecutors confirmed Glock 26 prop guns eject spent shell casings when fired. They were going to call a rebuttal witness on Tuesday to testify to that and to say that the casings Relli found couldn’t have come from Rocky’s prop gun. But they didn’t do so after Rocky’s lawyers agreed those facts are true and stipulated to the jury being told so.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told jurors, “The people and the defense stipulate that the prop gun testified about in this case would have ejected two fired cartridge cases as it was fired. The fired cartridge cases previously marked as people's exhibit 32 were not fired from the prop gun.”
Jurors likely will hear about the stipulation again in closing arguments, which are scheduled to begin Thursday at 9:30 a.m. before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark S. Arnold.
The defense rested on Tuesday after Rocky waived his right to testify. Judge Arnold asked Rocky if he agreed after Tacopina said he won’t testify, and Rocky answered, “Absolutely, Your Honor.”
“You understand that you have a right to get on the stand and give your side of the case. You understand that and accept that?” Arnold asked.
“I do understand,” Rocky answered.
The judge also Rocky has a 5th Amendment constitutional right not to testify and can’t be compelled to do so. He said it’s “totally your decision to either get on the stand or waive your right to testify and not testify.”
“Which right do you wish to take advantage of, the one to testify or the one to not testify?” Arnold asked.
“I want my right to not testify,” Rocky answered.
Rocky’s defense is that he fired a fake gun during the confrontation with Terell “Relli” that he carried for protection instead of a real gun.
Police found a rifle, shotgun and .44 Magnum in his bedroom when they searched Rocky’s West Hollywood home in April 2022, but they didn’t find fake guns. They also didn’t find a gun that can fire 9mm bullets, but they found a Glock 43 magazine loaded with six 9 mm bullets.
The bullets aren’t the same bullets that produced the casings Relli testified he found at the scene of the shooting when he went back with his girlfriend about an hour later. Seven police officers had searched the area earlier in response to a 911 call of shots fired, but they didn’t find the shell casings.
Relli texted Rocky photos of the casings on the ground shortly before midnight. Rocky asked him why he was telling people he shot at him. Relli texted Rocky later, “Y’all n***** tried to set up me up to try to take me from my daughter.” And Rocky replied, I tried to do what? I know u hate me I hate u too.” He also texted, “Stop making shit up.”
Police obtained surveillance video of the area Relli says he found the casings, but they didn’t get it for the time that he said he returned, so there’s no video evidence of him doing so.
The defense has worked to discredit Relli by casting him as a greedy accuser who attacked Rocky and is lying about Rocky having a real gun. Tacopina told jurors Relli is lying about finding the two casings at the shooting scene and instead obtained the casings elsewhere to set Rocky up and extort him for money.
Relli has two lawsuits against Rocky for the assault and for defamation; Tacopina also is a defendant in the defamation lawsuit. The defamatory statements identified in the lawsuit include Tacopina telling the press that he has “two eye witnesses who back Rocky’s story … not only that Relli wasn’t hit by bullet fragments, but no shot was even fired.”
Both lawsuits are awaiting the outcome of the criminal case before litigation can proceed. Tacopina has emphasized in trial that Relli wants $30 million in damages.
Tacopina is represented in the defamation lawsuit by attorneys at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP in Los Angeles. He has repeatedly guaranteed reporters that Rocky will be acquitted, and he didn’t discuss possible plea deals with prosecutors until shortly before trial. The offer involved Rocky pleading guilty to one assault charge, admitting he used a gun and serving 180 days in jail, with a seven-year suspended prison sentence he’d serve if he didn’t complete three years probation. Rocky told Judge Arnold he discussed the offer extensively with his lawyers and “respectfully” declined to accept. The father of two has a new album that’s to release this year — it’s called “Don’t Be Dumb” — and he’s to co-chair the Met Gala in May and headline the Rolling Loud music festival in Los Angeles next month if he’s not convicted and remanded to jail.
He faces a maximum 24 years in prison if convicted, but prosecutors said they’ll recommend 10 to 12 years, then changed that to 8 to 10 years.
Tacopina worked in trial to discredit Relli’s testimony that Rocky’s gun was real and that a bullet grazed his lefthand knuckles.
Relli said a bullet grazed his knuckles, but Rocky’s lawyer says he scrapped them on the ground.
One thing he has to work with in closing argument is a video of Relli shooting a gun at a firing range in Los Angeles in October 2021, before the shooting. Relli testified that he never fired a 9mm gun before then, so Tacopina played the video on cross, though it was never specifically stated that the gun Relli is firing is a 9mm. Relli also testified that the firing range wasn’t in Los Angeles, then contacted prosecutors over the weekend to say that he realized it was.
Additionally, Relli said he wasn’t sure if a photo Tacopina showed him of his girlfriend was actually her, though the photo was not entered as evidence and jurors never saw it. Judge Arnold later said he believed Relli was protecting her; the incident led to a shouting match between Tacopina and Deputy District Attorney John Lewin after the jury left and while Rocky’s partner Rihanna was in the courtroom.
Relli also said two recordings from which Tacopina played small snippets were fabricated, when the recordings were of Relli talking to Rocky’s friend Wally Sajimi and discussing his desire for money from Rocky and his willingness to stop cooperating with the criminal case if he got it.
Lewin played much more from the recordings in his cross-examination of Sajimi, including Relli discussing the shooting and how Rocky refused to talk to him about compensation. Relli did not know Sajimi was recording him.
Arnold also repeatedly admonished Relli to answer questions and stop sparring with Tacopina. The judge remarked on Friday that Relli’s time on the stand was lengthy “because he was so uncooperative and he would not answer a question.”
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Judge Arnold instructed jurors on Monday. The instructions state that “self defense is a defense to counts one and two.”
“The defendant is not guilty of those crimes if he used force against another person in lawful self defense or defense of another,” according to the instructions.
“The defendant acted in lawful self defense or defense of another if, 1) the defendant reasonably believed that he, Illijah Ulanga or Jamel Phillips was in imminent danger of suffering bodily injury or was in imminent danger of being touched unlawfully” or “2) the defendant reasonably believed that the immediate use of force was necessary to defend against that nature danger.” The judge also said the defendant must “have used more force than was reasonably necessary to defend against that danger.”
“Belief in future harm is not sufficient. No matter how great or how likely the harm is believed to be, he must have believed that there was imminent danger of bodily injury to himself or someone else, or an imminent danger that he or someone else would be touched unlawfully.”
“The defendant’s belief must have been reasonable, and he must have acted … because of that belief,” the judge said. “The defendant is only entitled to use that amount of force that a reasonable person would believe is necessary in the same situation. If the defendant used more force than was reasonable, the defendant did not act in lawful self defense or defense of another.”
Judge Arnold also instructed jurors that “a person does not have the right, right to self defense if he or she provokes a fight or quarrel with the intent to create an excuse to use force.”
The jury should begin deliberations by Thursday afternoon.
There are seven women and five men on the jury including eight who appear white, two who appear Hispanic and two who appear Asian.
One woman is an assistant principal at an elementary school. Another woman is a scientist who spent 20 years designing space crafts, and one man manages an upscale hotel with a staff of about 80 people. Another man is a former manager at Trader Joe’s, and another woman is a firearms instructor whose father was a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles. Her uncle also was a judge, and she has four cousins who are lawyers.
The alternate jurors include a woman who is an entertainment lawyer and whose husband is a retired entertainment lawyer, as well as a retired administrative law judge from Minnesota and a marketing chief for a healthful snack company.
You can find long videos of the trial on my YouTube channel. You can find shorter videos on my TikTok and Instagram pages.
I’ll stream closing arguments on YouTube live from the courthouse, as well as any jury questions and verdict.
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