Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky rejected a last-minute plea deal from prosecutors as his trial began for allegedly assaulting a former A$AP Mob group member in 2021.
According to the Associated Press, Rocky (real name: Rakim Mayers) did not take the deal offered by Los Angeles prosecutors on Tuesday, Jan. 21, as jury selection started.
The fashionable lyricist would have spent 180 days in prison and received a suspended seven-year sentence, plus three years of probation. Prosecutors wanted him to enter a guilty plea for one of the two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
A$AP Rocky, 36, faces a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison if found guilty.
In January 2024, he pleaded not guilty to firing a weapon at former A$AP Mob group member A$AP Relli, Rolling Stone reported.
His former friend claimed Rocky pointed a gun at him and fired it twice toward him on Nov. 6, 2021, on the corner of Selma Avenue and Vista Del Mar Avenue.Rocky pleaded not guilty to the two felony counts.
Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold told prospective jurors that Rocky’s celebrity—his longtime girlfriend is Rihanna—shouldn’t be used against him or for him in this case.
Former Donald Trump attorney Joe Tacopina is representing Rocky.
Tacopina said in court on Tuesday that he plans to call witnesses who will testify that the gun that was seen on a security video is actually a starter pistol that the entertainer carried as a prop for security reasons.
As for whether Rocky will testify at the trial, that remains to be seen.
“..[A$AP Rocky’s] eager to tell his story and would love the opportunity to do so,” Tacopina said, according to Vibe
. “He’s very articulate and intelligent, he’s a good human being and that will come out if he testifies. But that decision isn’t going to be made yet. And it depends on how the case goes.”RELATED CONTENT: Denzel Washington Reminds Us That He Was From The Streets During Q&A For ‘Gladiator II’