Скачать или смотреть A$AP Rocky dives into Rihanna's arms as not guilty verdict is read at felony assault trial

(19 Feb 2025)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4555678

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Los Angeles - 18 February 2025
1. A$AP Rocky arriving to court

POOL
++UPSOUND PARTIALLY COVERED++
Los Angeles - 18 February 2025
2. Various of A$AP Rocky reacts to not guilty verdict, diving into Rihanna's arms

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Los Angeles - 18 February 2025
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Tacopina, Rocky's lawyer:
"I didn't realize how athletic he was. He in a single leap went over the went over the jury box but before we heard the words from the clerk, he didn't know if he was going to be spending the next two decades in jail or going home. And it's a lot on the line. He has two little children. He's got a beautiful wife and he's got a family and that was that was raw emotion. You guys got to see that, it was even I mean it was insane."
4. A$AP and Rihanna leave courthouse
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) A$SP Rocky, American rapper:
"And I really want to thank the jury for making the right decision. I'm thankful to be blessed to be here right now. to be a free man talking to you all. Thank you. All praise be to God."
6. Various of A$AP and Rihanna leaving the courthouse with crowded media
STORYLINE:
A$AP Rocky dove from the defense table into the arms of Rihanna Tuesday as a clerk read the not guilty verdict at his trial on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

The Los Angeles courtroom, full of fans of the hip-hop performer and his singing superstar partner, exploded into screaming glee as Rocky and Rihanna embraced and sobbed.

After a three-week trial, the jury deliberated for just three hours to reach the verdict that spared Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, a prison sentence that could have run more than two decades.

"Thank y’all for saving my life," he told the jurors as they left the Los Angeles courtroom.

Amid the chaos, it took the clerk a while to read the second not guilty verdict, though it was very unlikely the jury would split on the counts.

On the eve of trial, Rocky turned down a prosecution offer of just six months in jail, along with probation and other conditions, if he would plead guilty to one count.

Insisting on his innocence, Rocky decided to gamble that a jury would feel the same. It paid off. The jurors felt at least that there was reasonable doubt of his guilt.

Rihanna cried and hugged the defense lawyers, as did Rocky. She attended the trial sporadically and brought the couple’s two sons — 2-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and 1-year-old Riot Rose Mayers — for some of the closing arguments.

The verdict came at the height of Rocky’s fame, if not the pinnacle of his music career. The three-time Grammy nominee, fashion mogul and actor has a banner year in the works, and can now look to it without the threat of prison hanging over him. He is scheduled to headline the Rolling Loud music festival in March; he is one of the celebrity co-chairs of fashion’s biggest night, the Met Gala, in May; and he stars with Denzel Washington in director Spike Lee’s film “Highest 2 Lowest,” set for release in early summer.

Prosecutors and their witnesses said that he was beefing with a former friend, A$AP Relli, with whom he had been in a crew who called themselves the A$AP Mob since high school. They said the two men met up in Hollywood on Nov. 6, 2021, and after a scuffle Rocky pulled the gun and fired twice at Relli, who said one of the shots grazed his knuckle but was not seriously hurt.






Rocky opted not to testify in his own defense.

AP Video by Ryan Pearson



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