On the night he allegedly shot a founding member of the New York rap crew that helped launch his career, ASAP Rocky was carrying only a “prop gun” from a music video shoot that couldn’t fire real bullets, his defense attorney said Friday.
During opening arguments in the rap star’s Los Angeles assault trial, defense attorney Joe Tacopina painted Rocky — whose real name is Rakim Mayers — as the victim rather than the aggressor in an assault case that could end with him facing up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors have accused Mayers of shooting Terrell Ephron, a.k.a. ASAP Relli, on a Hollywood street corner after a heated argument on Nov. 6, 2021. The two were longtime friends and members of the Harlem rap crew ASAP — which stands for “Always Strive and Prosper” — but had grown apart in recent years.
While much of the prosecution’s case was aired last year during a preliminary hearing, this week was the first time the public got a look at Tacopina’s defense strategy. For an hour Friday afternoon, Tacopina hammered Ephron’s credibility, arguing he only reported Mayers to the police to boost a civil suit and insisting he knew Mayers was carrying a fake weapon.
Tacopina pointed to the fact that LAPD officers found “no evidence” of a shooting when they responded to 911 calls in the area that night, and questioned how Ephron — not the police — managed to recover two shell casings when he returned to the scene an hour later.
“What you’ll learn is that Relli returned to that scene an hour later and he attempted to fabricate evidence,” Tacopina said. “This is some offensive stuff.”
But prosecutors made a disclosure shortly before opening arguments began Friday that could upend that approach.
Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lewin said prosecutors received a late piece of “ballistic evidence” from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division on the eve of trial. The analysis, according to Lewin, confirmed the shell casings recovered at the shooting scene were most likely fired from a 9mm handgun. The “somewhat unique” markings could match to a “subset” of Glock firearms, Lewin said.
While police never found the weapon used in the shooting, the evidence could potentially undercut Tacopina’s “prop gun” defense, as such a device would fire blanks, not 9mm rounds.
Tacopina was incensed by the eleventh-hour revelation and asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold to delay opening arguments or restart jury selection in light of the new information. Arnold declined both requests, noting the evidence was not tantamount to “a smoking gun,” such as an eyewitness claiming Mayers was the shooter.
“This is not right. It’s not fair to him,” Tacopina said, pointing to Mayers.
An LAPD spokeswoman could not immediately explain why the evidence was turned over so late in a case that police presented to prosecutors in 2022.
Tacopina said the case was about Ephron’s “jealousy, lies and greed,” noting the accuser didn’t report the shooting to LAPD until two days later, after he’d retained a civil attorney. He also pointed to text messages Ephron sent claiming he was going to “get this … money” from Mayers.
“This case is all about money … an attempt at extortion by Relli so he can keep funding his extravagant lifestyle,” Tacopina said.
Tacopina said it was “miraculous” that Ephron was able to recover shell casings after seven LAPD officers searched and found nothing. He repeatedly called the prosecution’s chief witness a “perjurer” who knew Mayers was carrying a prop gun.
Mayers has a permit to carry a concealed weapon in California, according to Tacopina, but did not pack a real firearm even though he’d been threatened in the months leading up to the shooting. Tacopina said Mayers took the prop gun from the set of a recent music video shoot he’d filmed alongside Rihanna, his longtime partner with whom he has two children.
In his opening statement, Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Przelomiec said the case was not “complicated” and largely played a pair of surveillance videos that showed Mayers and Ephron arguing and wrestling with each other on Argyle Avenue in Hollywood.
Mayers, who was flanked by two other founding members of the ASAP crew, can be clearly seen pulling a handgun from his waistband in one video. A second clip captures audible pops that sound like gunshots, but neither clip directly captures the shooting.
Przelomiec described Mayers as the aggressor in the incident, pointing to texts he sent Ephron demanding to meet up hours before the shooting. The pair had been arguing over text in recent weeks because Ephron, mistakenly, believed Mayers hadn’t paid for the funeral of a fellow crew member who had died of a drug overdose.
While the injuries Ephron suffered were extremely minor — photos displayed small scrapes on two of his knuckles — Przelomiec noted severe wounds were not necessary for a jury to find Mayers guilty of assault. Przelomiec also said he was not concerned by LAPD’s failure to locate shell casings at the scene, noting calls to 911 on the night of the incident did not pinpoint the exact location of the shooting.
Przelomiec also pointed to a search warrant executed in 2022 at Mayers’ Los Angeles residence, where police recovered a half-empty 9mm magazine. Tacopina countered that the ammunition contained in the magazine was a different brand from the type Ephron said he recovered at the scene. There is no forensic evidence tying Mayers to the shell casings.
The case, Tacopina said, relies entirely on Ephron’s testimony.
“This cases rises or falls on his credibility. The videos you saw, without his testimony, prove absolutely nothing,” Tacopina said. “You need to believe his testimony and his version of events from the video for these charges to be proven.”
Przelomiec, meanwhile, painted a portrait of betrayal, one where Ephron went to meet up with Mayers hoping to repair their fractured friendship and never expected to be met with violence.
“In his state of mind, he never believed he was going to be shot. He never believed the defendant would actually shoot him,” Przelomiec said. “He will tell you had this been a stranger, someone he didn’t know as well, he would have been petrified.”
But as their argument worsened, in the seconds before he claims he was shot, Ephron had a realization, according to Przelomiec.
“These men never came here to make peace with him,” the prosecutor said.
