A$AP Rocky turns down plea deal as trial for allegedly firing gun at former friend starts

The 36-year-old has already pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm as jury selection gets underway in Los Angeles

A$AP Rocky turned down a plea deal of 180 days in prison as jury selection began at his trial Tuesday where the rapper is accused of firing a gun at a former friend and collaborator.

The “Pretty Flacko” musician (real name Rakim Mayers) could face decades in prison if convicted.

The 36-year-old has already pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and his attorney says the rapper committed no crime.

The Grammy-nominated hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor is the longtime partner of Rihanna, and the two have two young sons together. It has not been confirmed whether Rihanna will appear to support him in court, but his attorney has suggested it’s unlikely.

Rocky has been named one of the celebrity chairs of the Met Gala in May, and has a major role in a Spike Lee-directed film with Denzel Washington to be released soon after.

But his life could be upended with a conviction that could lead to a sentence of up to 24 years if jurors find him guilty of shooting at his former friend in Hollywood in 2021.

A$AP Rocky in Beverly Hills in 2019 (AFP/Getty)

Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold said he intends to seat a jury quickly and is keeping strict limits on how long attorneys can question prospective jurors.

“I will let the jurors know that regardless of who a defendant is, whether they’re the richest person in the world or the poorest person, everybody is to be treated the same,” he said at a pretrial hearing.

Opening statements could come Wednesday. Arnold is allowing media cameras in court for the entire trial after a jury is selected.

In 2023, another judge ruled after a preliminary hearing that Rocky should stand trial for allegedly firing a gun at Terell Ephron (also known as A$AP Relli), a childhood friend who testified that their relationship had soured and a feud came to a head on the night of November 6, 2021. Ephron testified that bullets grazed his knuckles.

At a hearing in November 2023, Rocky’s attorney Joe Tacopina established while questioning a police detective that seven officers who searched a sidewalk and street about 20 minutes after the shots were allegedly fired found no evidence of the shooting, and that a pair of 9 mm shell casings in police possession were recovered by Ephron, who returned to the scene about an hour after the standoff.

Tacopina played body camera video of the officers, who searched the ground for about 10 minutes. Ephron, who first went to police to report the incident two days later, turned over the shell casings, which the detective said had no recoverable fingerprints on them.

Prosecutors showed a separate video from near the scene where no people are initially visible, but what sounds like two gunshots can be heard. Then a man comes running around a corner, then slows to a walk. The man’s identity is not clear in the video, but LAPD Detective Frank Flores testified they have established it is Rocky.

A verdict is expected to be delivered in around 15 days.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.