On Day 13 at A$AP Rocky’s felony assault trial, on February 14, prosecutor John Lewin urged jurors to set aside any sympathy for the rapper, his superstar partner Rihanna, and their two young children, emphasizing that their presence in court should not influence the verdict. “You are not allowed to consider how this might affect Rihanna and his kids. We are all responsible for our own actions in the world,” Lewin stated. He suggested Rihanna’s decision to bring their children to court for the first time on the day of closing arguments was a deliberate attempt to sway the jury. “They brought in two adorable children yesterday for closing argument,” he said. “They haven’t been here any other time. And you have to ask yourselves, why children that age would be here in a situation like this?”
Rocky is facing two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm for allegedly firing two shots at his former friend, A$AP Relli, on a Hollywood street corner in 2021. If convicted, he could face up to 24 years in prison. His defense, however, argues that he only fired blanks from a prop gun he had acquired for security on a music video shoot.
During his closing argument, Rocky’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, sought to discredit Relli, portraying him as the true aggressor and an unreliable witness. Tacopina presented deleted text messages from Relli in which he allegedly urged Rocky to fight him, countering the prosecution’s claim that Rocky instigated the altercation. “Their witness lied to them, lied to police, and deleted the messages,” Tacopina argued. “He destroyed evidence.” When confronted about these messages on the stand, Tacopina said Relli initially denied remembering them, then dismissed them as fake. “‘It’s fake! It’s fake!’ Anything that crushed him was fake,” Tacopina told the jury.
Tacopina also analyzed surveillance footage from the scene, arguing that it showed Relli making the first move in the confrontation. “That was in front of you,” he said of Relli’s combative courtroom demeanor. “Imagine what he’s like in the street.”
In his rebuttal, Lewin dismissed the prop gun defense outright. “If it is a prop gun, there is no self-defense,” he said, adding, “Once you decide it’s not a prop gun—and it’s not a prop gun—the case is over.” He accused Rocky of being used to people covering for him, saying, “He is a big, important man, and everybody serves him.”
The trial also saw escalating tensions between the two lawyers, culminating in a fiery exchange when the jury was out of the room. Lewin accused Tacopina of lacking ethics, prompting Tacopina to bring up a past appeals court decision regarding Lewin. This led Lewin to explode, shouting, “Your honor, one more thing about him and we air everything that’s happened in this case! He might want to stop!” Tacopina responded sarcastically, “Ooh, I’m so threatened by you!” to which Lewin shot back, “Yeah, you should be Joe. You should be.”
Judge Mark Arnold intervened at one point, instructing Lewin to refrain from mentioning Rihanna and the children any further. “The manner in which you did it—I don’t think it was improper,” the judge said, “but you cannot mention again Rihanna being in the courtroom, or the kids being in the courtroom.”
With jury deliberations set to begin, the case now hinges on whether the jurors believe Rocky’s claim that he fired only blanks—or whether they agree with the prosecution that the rapper fired real bullets in an act of aggression.
Watch closing arguments below:
