ASAP Rocky prison: US rapper rejects plea deal as trial opens - is he going to prison, how many years does Rihanna's boyfriend face?

Nearly a hundred jurors will pack back into a Los Angeles courtroom today (Wednesday 22 January) with the possibility that they’ll serve on the three-week trial of A$AP Rocky. Nearly half of initial group in the jury box said they had heard of A$AP Rocky before coming to court. Nearly all said they had heard of Rihanna, his longtime partner and the mother of his two young sons.

All agreed they would not let the couple’s celebrity affect their judgment in either direction. Jury selection began after the 36-year-old Rocky turned down a deal offering 180 days in jail, a seven-year suspended sentence and three years’ probation if he would plead guilty to one of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

A pool of 106 jurors were brought in. Some were excused for hardships. One man was excused because he said he was so anti-gun he couldn’t be impartial.

At the end of Tuesday’s proceedings, Rocky’s lawyers sought a hearing on the demographics of the jury pool, saying that the area that potential jurors were pulled from is 9% African-American, but by their assessment of the room less than 5% of those summoned were black. “There is a distinctive group that’s missing,” Rocky’s attorney Chad Seigel said, arguing that it was a violation of of the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and California law.

Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold rejected the motion. A$AP Rocky is facing two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm for allegedly firing shots at A$AP Relli in November 2021. If convicted on all charges, A$AP Rocky could get up to 24 years in prison.

Tacopina, the high-profile attorney, said A$AP Rocky is "confident" he will be acquitted due to alleged evidence on his side in this case. A$AP Relli said his former friend fired at least four rounds, one of which may have hit his hand. A$AP Relli reported the incident the next day after a warrant for A$AP Rocky's arrest was issued.

Surveillance footage shown by prosecutors appeared to show A$AP Rocky with a gun and possibly firing it, though his lawyers denied it. Detective Frank Flores confirmed the footage showed a gun in A$AP Rocky's hand, but acknowledged that the weapon was never recovered. Two 9mm shell casings were later found by A$AP Relli at the scene and returned to the police.