Rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty to assault charges in L.A. court on Monday.
The artist – whose real name is Rakim Mayers – is charged with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, along with allegations that he used a firearm during the pair of confrontations with Terell Ephron on the evening of Nov. 6, 2021.
KNX News’ Pete Demetriou reported that Mayers’ attorney, Joe Tacopina, told reporters he was expecting a trial to happen in early September. Tacopina said he still believes there's insufficient evidence to show his client fired shots at Ephron in a parking garage two years ago where Ephron was going to confront Mayers over his egotistical conduct.
"I want to get this done and over so he can start enjoying his family and move on," Tacopina said. "We're going to be quiet and we're going to try this (case) in a courtroom and when we do, facts will come out that show that he's truly innocent and he's a victim in this case."
Mayers -- who is free on bond -- was arrested in April 2022 at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving on a private plane from Barbados, where he had been on vacation with his then-pregnant girlfriend, singer Rihanna, according to NBC News and TMZ.
Last November, L.A. Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar ruled there was sufficient evidence to allow the case against Mayers to proceed to trial.
Ephron -- also known as A$AP Relli -- testified at the hearing in November that he saw Mayers outside a parking garage in an encounter partially caught on surveillance video, and that Mayers pulled a gun from his waistband, put it toward his stomach and said, "I'll kill you right now."
He said the altercation seemed like it was "forever." He told the judge he decided to follow Mayers after seeing another man in the rapper's entourage putting a pocket knife away.
"I just wanted him to hear my side," he said, telling the judge he would never see Mayers again.
Ephron said the man he knew as "Rocky" turned around and shot at him. He believed the gunfire grazed his left hand. He said he waited until he got to New York to go to a hospital to seek medical treatment for his three injured knuckles, saying he was in pain.
Tacopina told the judge at the hearing in November that there was insufficient evidence a shooting had even occurred, urging the judge to dismiss the charges.
But the judge said then that the evidence threshold is much lower in a preliminary hearing compared to a trial, and that she was satisfied by what she saw in the videos, one of which included audio sounds of gunshots. Villar said another video showed Ephron "dance around" other individuals present to protect himself, but she questioned why he followed Mayers after the initial confrontation.
Ephron filed a civil defamation lawsuit last September against the rapper and Tacopina, alleging that they have falsely portrayed him in the media as a liar, a money grabber, and a blackmailer. He also filed suit against Mayers in August 2022 stemming from the alleged shooting.
Mayers is scheduled back in the downtown L.A. criminal courthouse on March 6.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok