ASAP Rocky prosecutors rest case in LA court for double assault charges

Los Angeles County prosecutors have rested their case in the trial of ASAP Rocky.

The multi-million record-selling rapper is charged with firing a gun at a former friend on the streets of Hollywood in 2021.

Five witnesses were called during eight days of witness testimony, which included two police officers, a police detective and a firearms expert.

But the state’s most important witness was ASAP Relli, Rocky’s accuser and aspiring music manager to the Grammy Award-nominated rapper.

Relli was on the stand for about three days’ worth of testimony, including a long and combative cross-examination.

“You think you’re slick!” he shouted at defence lawyer Joe Tacopina at one point,

“You’re not going to keep tripping me up! You’re not slick!”

He testified that after their friendship faltered and grew into a feud, he and Rocky, real name Rakim Athelaston Mayers, had a confrontation in Hollywood that led to the star firing two shots at him.

Relli, born Terrell Ephron, told the court his knuckles were grazed, but he was otherwise not hurt.

Rocky has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

If convicted on both charges, the Grammy Award-nominated musician could face up to 24 years in prison.

Rihanna, the superstar singer who is Rocky’s longtime partner and the mother of his two toddler sons, slipped into the courtroom on Thursday and sat in Rocky’s section after several days of absence. She had her hair up and wore glasses with a tan trench coat on a rainy day in LA.

She also attended court for three days last week for Relli’s testimony.

Several phone recordings, captured by internet branding consultant Wally Sajimi in 2022 phone calls with Relli, were submitted as evidence in the highly publicised trial and could prove pivotal in the case.

Sajimi worked with both men in the past and flew from Paris to Los Angeles to take the stand.

His testimony and the calls could prove crucial to the case, with audio recordings indicating that Relli declared that he would get millions from Rocky in a separate civil case and did not care about the criminal prosecution.

Defence lawyers played the audio recordings for only Relli to hear – so, the jury could not hear – as he sat on the witness stand.

The music producer initially told the court the recordings were illegitimate, but in the presence of Sajimi, allowed them to be played aloud in court.

On one, a voice resembling Relli’s says suing Rocky “was my game plan all along,” and “Once I walk away, when I get my cash, the case will get way weaker.”

But in cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney John Lewin established that the stories Relli was telling on the calls were consistent with his testimony.

“Did he ever tell you at any point in time, ‘You know what? Yeah, I’m trying to get his money, but I made the whole thing up?” Lewin asked.

Sajimi said no.

“In fact, isn’t it true that what he was telling you was that that man shot at him,” Lewin said, pointing at Rocky, “and Relli wanted to make sure he got his for what happened?”

The case may hinge on these recordings, depending on how much weight the jury gives Relli’s descriptions of the incident, his possible dishonesty about other elements like the calls, and whether they think his seeking money undermines him, which have all been avenues of defence out forward by Rocky’s legal team.

The lead detective in the case, LAPD Detective Frank Flores, conceded under defence questioning on Thursday that a surveillance video that captured the incident does not show an operating gun, or prove there was a shooting in itself.

But Flores said the behaviour of the men in the video, combined with another that captured audio of gunshots, and others that showed the men before and after, led to the conclusion there was a shooting.

The defence does not dispute that some form of the incident occurred, but they say that Rocky fired a starter pistol that shoots blanks that he carries for security.

When asked whether he could definitively establish there were gunshots, Flores said the audio provided “the distinct sound of a firearm, or ”some kind of replica firearm potentially.”