LOS ANGELES (AP) — A$AP Rocky could take the danger of taking the stand in his personal protection on Tuesday at his trial over two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
In dialogue with a Los Angeles decide on the final phases of Rocky’s trial, his lawyer Joe Tacopina stated that both his shopper would testify early Tuesday or the protection would relaxation its case. An legal professional for the prosecution stated his staff was going to spend the evening making ready for Rocky’s testimony.
He’s not legally required to testify, and subjecting a defendant to a troublesome cross-examination is usually a significant gamble in legal instances.
Tacopina stated earlier than the trial that Rocky was “eager to tell his story. He would love the opportunity to do so.”
The attorneys couldn’t give remark exterior courtroom Monday as a result of a decide has forbidden them from chatting with the media. Rocky faces as much as 24 years in jail if convicted, after turning down a pre-trial plea deal that might have led to only 180 days in jail.
If Rocky testifies, he’ll most likely should face an extended and combative cross-examination from Deputy District Legal professional John Lewin. In his most well-known case, Lewin stored actual property inheritor Robert Durst on the stand for 9 days of relentless questioning earlier than he was convicted of homicide.
Rocky is a Grammy-nominated hip-hop star, vogue mogul and the longtime accomplice of singing famous person Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons. She could seem Tuesday to look at his testimony.
She has proven up sporadically — most just lately on Friday, once they left the courthouse collectively for the primary time, strolling arm-in-arm.
Rocky, whose authorized title is Rakim Mayers, would possible testify {that a} gun he fired twice — in a scuffle with a former buddy on a Hollywood avenue nook in 2021 — was a starter pistol that solely fired blanks, and that he carried it for safety.
On Monday, his tour supervisor grew to become the second witness from Rocky’s internal circle to testify that he carried the phony gun.
Lou Levin stated he informed the rapper it made sense to hold it after Rocky’s home had been damaged into by a stalker and others.
“Security and I thought it would be a good idea, because of the prior violence,” Levin said. “It’s just a nonlethal form of self-defense.”
Levin stated he acquired the gun from a video shoot in the summertime of 2021, about three months earlier than the incident that led to the costs, and on the day itself.
He informed the jury that he returned the phony gun to the music video’s co-director, who not had it when Levin requested about it after Rocky’s arrest. The protection stated it doesn’t have the starter pistol now.
Authorities additionally didn’t get better the pistol they allege Rocky used.
Levin testified that an ammunition journal present in Rocky’s home by officers serving a search warrant really belonged to him.
Lewin, the prosecutor, stated “you had to come up with a story” to elucidate the journal. He later known as each side of the story “a lie.”
“I didn’t have to come up with a story — it’s the truth,” Levin stated.
