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ASAP Rocky is just not copping any pleas. On Tuesday (Jan. 21), the Harlem native’s gun assault trial for his alleged involvement within the capturing of ASAP Relli started.
Along with jury choice, prosecutors put 180 days in county jail, three years of probation and a seven-year suspended sentence on the desk if he pleaded to rely one. Nevertheless, he rejected it flat out. “I respectfully decline. Thanks,” ASAP Rocky advised the court docket, per Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillon.
The daddy of two beforehand pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. In accordance with his lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, the rapper is “not prepared to take something” the prosecution is pushing, regardless that he’s up towards a attainable 24-year sentence if discovered responsible.
“He’s keen to inform his story. He would love the chance to take action. He’s very articulate, very clever,” Tacopina mentioned. “He’s a very good human being, and that will come out if he testifies. However that’s a call that has not been made but. It relies upon how the case goes.”
Tuesday’s proceedings additionally introduced ASAP Rocky’s core protection technique to mild. The “L$D” artist intends to name two witnesses who will testify that the firearm seen within the safety footage was truly a “starter pistol” prop gun. He claimed to hold it for cover, although the prosecution will doubtless problem that declare later within the trial.
Thus far, the rapper seems assured he can win the case, which dates again to an altercation involving him and ASAP Relli on Nov. 6, 2021. Surveillance footage confirmed a bodily combat between the 2 at Selma Ave. and Vista Del Mar Ave. in Hollywood, subsequently leading to a firearm being discharged. Regardless of that, no weapon was ever recovered, and LAPD Detective Frank Flores acknowledged that the video proof of the capturing was inconclusive.
Apart from his authorized woes, ASAP Rocky is scheduled to headline Rolling Loud California on March 15. A portion of the gross sales will go towards GoFundMe’s Wildfire Reduction Fund.