The AP Rocky jury has found a non -guilty on two crime charges of attacking with a half -automatic firearm on Tuesday after a period of about a month in Los Angeles.
The screaming was heard inside the courtroom when reading the ruling while Rocky ran to the back of the room for a long time embrace, Rihanna, who appeared inside the court on multiple occasions throughout the trial. Rocky, his legal name Rakim Mays, faced up to 24 years in prison if he was convicted of all charges.
At the beginning of the trial last month, Refuse Which carried the prison sentence 180 days in prison.
We said from the first day, it was innocent. Joe Takobina, the defense lawyer, told reporters outside the Criminal Justice Center in Clara Shortridge Volz in the center of Los Angeles, where photographers stole Rocky and Rihanna after the verdict. “We are honored to represent this amazing family.”
The jury had circulated for about three hours before reaching the ruling.
Prosecutors claimed to shoot Rocky in the direction of his former friend, Terrell Everon, near the Hollywood Hotel in 2021. Avron, another former member of the hip -hop group, which he went before before $ AP Reli, said he had left with The bullet wounds are above its joints. He witnessed Rocky It has threatened To kill him on the same night.
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The defense accused Efron of manufacturing evidence, committing the right to the right and trying to blackmail Rocky, saying that the rapper had a pistol gun that launched the voids that he only carried to security.
Rocky had acknowledged that he was not guilty on both charges and kept his innocence through statements from his lawyer.
Nathan Hoshman, Los Angeles County lawyer, issued a statement on behalf of the prosecution after Tuesday’s ruling.
Hoshman said in the statement: “While today’s ruling is not the result we sought, we respect the jury’s decision and the safety of our judicial system,” Hachman said in the statement. “Our office is still committed to searching for accountability for those who break the law, regardless of their status or influence. Fame does not put anyone above the law, and we will not hesitate to seek justice to victims and society.”
With the closing arguments at the end of last week, Rihanna appeared inside the courtroom in the center of Los Angeles with the sons of the two -year -old couple with two years old with her for the first time, Associated Press I mentioned.
A $ AP Rocky stands a trial in Los Angeles
The prosecution claimed that Rocky referred to a semi -automatic firearm in Efron before the fire was opened during a later confrontation on the evening of November 6, 2021. During the first week of the trial, Efron witnessed that Rocky said: “I will kill you now,” while he was directing a pistol to him, saying it was He was referring to “my stomach, like my head and shoulder.”
While he said he could not remember some details, the jury told Rocky that the transfer of the gun as he was referring to it, saying, “He was looking for a place to shoot me.”
Gety pictures
“So I see that the rocks are transformed, and when it turned, it is like,” Everon said that he mimics the gesture He says Rocky was made with a pistol, raised his arm in the air while he indicates his fingers down. “Kinda looked like a movie. Everything looked like a movie.”
The former friends were near the intersection of Argyle and Selma Avenues, a Hollywood area of the corner or lower than the march of fame, when the prosecutors say Rocky opened fire.
Everon witnessed that he left with the wounds of the bullet integrity over his joints, which later sought medical treatment.
“When he shot the first shot, I felt hot,” he said to the allies of the witness’s position last month, saying that he grabbed another person there on that night and “used it as a shield” to try to avoid shooting. “I just try not to love to get at this point,” said Efron.
He testified that he had returned to the area later that night, after Los Angeles police officers responded to the scene, and collected the covers of the throat that he claims was shot by Venice. “But I ended up returning and getting actual bullets myself,” he said, saying that he brought a paper bag to collect it and took pictures of her.
“It was not difficult to find bullets because I knew exactly where I fired,” he said.
Takobina, the defense lawyer in Rocky, told the jury that Efron manufactured this evidence and committed the right to the right during his testimony, describing him as a “sick liar” during the trial. Takobina reported that many police officers responded to the scene before Efron returned, saying they had had a comprehensive research and did not coincide with the covers of compositions.
“What you will learn is that Reli returned to this scene an hour,” said Takobina about Everon, referring to the name of his former artist AP Reli. “And try fabricated evidence … these are some offensive things.”
One of the defense witnesses witnessed a Rocky vision with a starting pistol, which only launched the blanks, on three occasions. A $ AP Teelvyy, another former member of A $ AP Collective and LongMty Rocky, said the rapper about the fake gun as a means of security. The crime does not apply to rocky faces if there is no real almost automatic firearm.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
The defense argued that rapper can also be found not guilty on the basis of self -defense. Both the prosecution and defense agreed that Rocky and two other men were with him that night, they moved away after the first confrontation in Hollywood on the evening of November 6, 2021, and Riley followed them before the second confrontation. However, the prosecutors argued that Rocky was the aggressor when he claimed that he had taken the gun and then opened the fire during the second accident.
While he was arguing that Efron tried to blackmail Rocky, the defense provided records of the defense, and the governor of Sajimi, he witnessed that in 2022. In the recording, he said an Efron -like voice that he would accept to charge the payment to stop participating in the case against Rocky. “Once I walk, when I get my money, the case will weaken the way,” says the voice.
But the prosecutors said that Evron’s certificate in the court was consistent with what Sajimi told during a recorded conversation-that the rapper who was nominated by Grammy opened the fire with a real pistol.
“In those few minutes, he tells the same details that I told you when he witnessed in this case,” said Los Angeles Paul Berzelomic’s deputy lawyer.
This is evidence of their creation. This is a person trying to deceive Mr. Efron, in an attempt to carry Mr. Evron to say something harmful, he says something that will undermine this issue. ”
During the closing arguments, PRZELOMIC told jury that the witnesses who witnessed the defense did not tell the law that Rocky had a fake weapon that night when the investigation began for the first time. He said that the pillar gun has not yet risen more than two years after the alleged shooting, when these witnesses spoke with the Rocky defense lawyer.
“The idea that they will not run to the police station to tell their story is ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, the defense sharpened what they claim is a lack of credibility in the main claim.
Takobina reported during the closing arguments last week that regardless of Everon’s testimony, the prosecution’s evidence “consists of the video, missile covers, and the sculptures of the joint,” saying that the videos alone do not prove the defendant’s guilt and that the cortex covers were fabricated evidence.
“They mean nothing without believing his story,” said Takobina.