With Rihanna and their two toddlers watching from the courtroom audience, a Los Angeles prosecutor delivered his closing argument Thursday in A$AP Rocky’s trial, urging jurors to consider one pivotal question: “Was it a real gun or was it a fake gun?”
Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec argued the Grammy-nominated rapper, legal name Rakim Athelaston Mayers, was guilty of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, accusing him of firing at a former friend, Terell Ephron, known as A$AP Relli, on a Hollywood street in 2021.
Defense attorneys countered that the gun was a prop used in music videos and capable only of firing blanks, emphasizing that Rocky carried it for security purposes.
Rihanna, accompanied by 2-year-old RZA and 1-year-old Riot Rose, entered the courtroom during Przelomiec’s closing argument. The boys, dressed in suits, occasionally cooed as the trial unfolded, and during a break, Rocky was seen holding his younger son in the courthouse hallway.
Jurors are expected to deliberate starting Friday. If convicted, Rocky faces up to 24 years in prison, though the jury is not permitted to know this.
The trial’s tension centers on Relli’s credibility. Prosecutors allege that Rocky fired real shots, grazing Relli’s knuckles, while defense witnesses, including A$AP Mob member A$AP Twelvyy, testified the gun was a harmless prop used to deter aggression.
The lack of physical evidence—no gun has been presented—and the defense’s late claim of the weapon being a prop were scrutinized by prosecutors as implausible. Przelomiec dismissed defense witnesses as coached and accused Relli of seeking financial gain through both civil litigation and recorded conversations, which he claimed corroborated his story.
“Mr. Ephron wants to get paid because he was the victim of a real crime by a real gun,” Przelomiec concluded, asking jurors to reject the defense’s narrative.
Source: Swifteradio.com
