Judge rejects 'inadvertent' claim as A$AP Rocky's manager testifies about fake gun
Louis Levin testified that the Glock 43 magazine in Rocky's home belonged to him after he mistakenly bought it for his Glock 42 gun. The defense will rest today.
Rapper Rakim “A$AP Rocky” Mayers’s tour manager testified on Monday that he took the prop gun Rocky fired in 2021 and returned it to a music video director in New York City.
Louis Levin also said the Glock 43 magazine police found in Rocky’s home was his, and he said he mistakenly bought it for his Glock 42 and left it at Rocky’s former West Hollywood home instead of returning or exchanging it.
“Was this magazine ever used?” Rocky's lawyer Chad Seigel asked.
“No,” Levin answered.
“When you realized it was the wrong one, why didn’t you return it?” Seigel asked.
“It’s a $20 magazine. It would have cost more in gas to go there back and forth, with my time,” Levin answered.
Rocky’s lawyers hope Levin’s testimony will counter prosecutors’ efforts to connect the magazine police seized from Rocky’s home in April 2022 to the Nov. 6, 2021, shooting that Terell “Relli” Ephron testified targeted him.
Relli texted Rocky photos of two 9mm shell casings he said he found on the ground about an hour after the shooting. Relli later gave the casings to police.
The Glock 43 magazine police found in Rocky’s home six months later was loaded with 9 mm bullets, though the bullets weren’t the same brand as the shell casings Relli said he recovered from the scene.
Rocky’s lawyer Joe Tacopina told jurors in his opening statement that the magazine belonged to Levin. He didn’t mention that Levin took the prop gun from Rocky, however, and Seigel told prosecutors on Sunday night that they “inadvertently omitted certain information” from Levin’s witness statements when they gave them to prosecutors before trial as required.
They said they realized they did so after Jamel “A$AP Twelvvy” Phillips was asked about the prop gun’s whereabouts on Friday, so they met with Levin again on Sunday and he “reiterated” information that “he conveyed previously,” including that “was involved in the decision making for Rocky not to carry the prop gun on Nov. 6, 2021, “because it did not serve its intended purpose of acting as a deterrent.”
Levin said he took the gun with him to New York and returned it to the co-director of Rocky’s “D.M.B” music video during a meeting at the Roxy Hotel.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark S. Arnold said Monday he doesn’t believe Rocky’s lawyers “inadvertently” omitted the statements.
He said he has the authority to bar Levin from testifying about taking the prop gun and what he did with it, “but if I did that, however, the defense case would be prejudiced.”
Instead, the judge ordered Levin to talk to prosecutors, and he ordered the video director in New York to talk to prosecutors in a recorded phone call. If Levin’s testimony contradicts the video director’s statements, “the tape can be played to impeach Mr. Levin’s testimony,” the judge said.
The judge addressed the issue about 10 a.m. Monday before the jury arrived. The Los Angeles County Superior Court media office told reporters court was starting at 9 a.m. to address a discovery issue, but the courtroom didn’t open to the public until 10 a.m. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman was in the courtroom and spoke with Lewin before court began.
In direct-exam, Levin said Rocky got the prop gun, which he identified as a Glock 26, while shooting the “D.M.B.” video. Levin said he put a clear extended magazine on the prop gun because “the whole point of him carrying this was to try to make it look intimidating to kind of scare people off,” he testified.
Rocky decided to hire armed security after the Nov. 6, 2021, shooting, and he gave the prop gun to Levin.
“He carried it to deter violence, and then on Nov. 6 after the incident, it obviously didn’t work,” Levin testified.
Levin said he gave it back to the video director after returning to New York on a private jet.
Levin also testified that he bought the Glock 43 magazine in summer 2021 when he and Rocky were preparing to go to a shooting range. They couldn’t find a range available, however, so they hung out at Rocky’s home, “had a couple drinks, talked, bullshit.” Levin said he took his guns back to New York with him the next day but left the magazine at Rocky’s.
In cross-exam, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin asked about the gun’s current whereabouts. Levin said he doesn’t “specifically” know where it is.
“At some point in time, did you become aware that you know the fact that it’s a prop gun is important in this case?” Lewin asked.
“Yes,” Levin answered.
“And you understand that if it’s a prop gun the defendant cannot be guilty of the charges because it’s not a real gun. You understand that, correct?” Lewin asked
“That’s correct. It’s a prop gun,” Levin answered.
“So what efforts did you make in the last three years to try to get that prop gun so that you can demonstrate that, ‘Hey, my brother, he didn’t do this crime.’ Did you make any efforts?” Lewin asked.
Levin said he asked and the video director no longer has it.
Levin went to Rocky’s home when police were searching it in April 2022. Police seized a rifle, shotgun and .44 Magnum handgun from Rocky’s bedroom, as well as the Glock 43 magazine. Lewin asked Levin if he tried to tell police that the gun Rocky shot was fake.
“I didn’t know … it was going to a criminal case until that day,” Lewin testified.
“So when it was that day and the detective was there, you wouldn’t have had to call him, you wouldn’t have had to go down there. He’s right there. You could have told him it was a prop gun. You could have done that, correct?” Lewin asked.
“I didn’t know the details of everything that was going on at that time, sir,” Levin answered.
He testified that he heard police were at Rocky’s home and “I didn’t ask questions, I just went.”
“Listen to my question,” Lewin said. “Could you have told the detective on that day, ‘It was a prop gun. It wasn’t real.’ Could you have done that?”
“When I was speaking to the detective?” Levin asked.
“Yes,” Lewin asked.
“I could have told him, but I didn’t have any details of what was going on, sir,” Levin answered.
“Motion to strike everything after ‘yes,’” Lewin yelled, though he’s the one who said “yes.” Judge Arnold sustained.
Levin also said he knew the case would go to trial so “I knew I would have my time to speak about it here to the jury.”
Lewin asked if Levin understood “that by not coming forward, that you were putting your brother — your best friend — in more legal jeopardy?”
“Did you understand that?” Lewin asked.
“No. I didn’t. I didn't understand that. I didn’t know,” Levin answered.
Lewin moved into questions about the Glock 43 magazine that Levin testified he bought thinking it was a Glock 42 magazine. Levin said he noticed it was a 43 when he tried to insert .380 ammunition and it wouldn’t fit. Lewin asked why the magazine was loaded with 9 mm rounds when police found it.
“I was just fidgeting with it,” Levin said. “Sometimes I would sit there and I would load it and unload magazines just fidgeting around.”
“Isn’t it true, sir, that this information about the Glock 43 magazine is what is called a ‘lie’? That it never happened, that you never left over a Glock 43 magazine there, that you ever tried to load it with .380 ammunition and that in fact….” Judge Arnold interjected and told Lewin his question was compound.
Lewin tried again with shorter questions, including, “Isn’t it true that the reason that that a 9 mm magazine was at the defendant’s house was because he had a 9 mm firearm — a Glock 43 — that he used in this shooting of Relli, and that was simply the second magazine that he forgot to get rid of. Isn’t that what happened, sir?” Lewin asked.
“No,” Levin answered.
Lewin used a similar line of questioning about the magazine Levin said he mistakenly bought and left at Rocky’s home.
“You were aware, sir, that you did not have a registered gun that fit that magazine, correct?” Lewin asked.
“That is correct,” Levin answered.
“And in fact, isn’t it true, Mr. Levin, that you understood that because you did not have a registered gun that would fit that magazine, that you had to come up with a story to explain how it was that not only you left a magazine at the defendant’s house without a firearm to go with it, but also why you had that magazine in the first place? Is that correct?” Lewin asked.
“I didn’t have to come up with a story. It’s the truth,” Levin answered.
Will Rocky testify?
We will learn Tuesday morning if Rocky will testify. Besides him, the defense has one possible witness who will be short.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec may give his closing argument in the afternoon, or he may wait until Thursday. There is no court on Wednesday.
I’ll stream live on my YouTube channel, where you can find many videos of the trial testimony. You also can find coverage on my TikTok and Instagram pages.
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