Rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty Monday to charges stemming from accusations that he pulled a gun on a hip hop artist and former collaborator in Hollywood, then later opened fire on the man.
The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was charged with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He also faces allegations that he personally used a firearm during the confrontations with Terell Ephron on the night of Nov. 6, 2021.
Mayers' attorney, Joe Tacopina, told reporters Monday outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse after the hearing that the defense hopes the case will go to trial by September.
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"I want to get this done and over so he can start enjoying his family and move on," Tacopina said. "We're going to be quiet and we're going to try this (case) in a courtroom and when we do, facts will come out that show that he's truly innocent and he's a victim in this case."
Mayers is free on bond. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March.
Mayers was arrested in April 2022 at Los Angeles International Airport, where he arrived on a private plane from Barbados after vacationing with then-pregnant girlfriend Rihanna. The couple has two children.
Ephron, also known as A$AP Relli, testified at a hearing in November that he saw Mayers outside a parking garage in an encounter partially caught on surveillance video. Mayers pulled a gun from his waistband, put it toward his stomach and said, "I'll kill you right now," Ephron said.
He said the altercation seemed like it was "forever," but was likely just seconds. He told the judge he decided to follow Mayers after seeing another man in the rapper's entourage apparently putting a pocket knife away.
Ephron testified that he thought the rapper had become "big-headed" as a result of his success. He said he told Mayers he had "failed everybody" and that nobody was brave enough to tell him what they thought.
"I just wanted him to hear my side," he said.
Ephron said the man he knew as "Rocky" turned around and shot at him, and that he believed his left hand had been grazed by the gunfire. He said he waited until he got to New York to go to a hospital to seek medical treatment for his three injured knuckles.
Tacopina had told the judge at the hearing in November that there was insufficient evidence a shooting had even occurred, urging the judge to dismiss the charges.
But the judge said then that the evidence threshold is much lower in a preliminary hearing compared to a trial and that she was satisfied by what she saw in the videos, one of which included audio sounds of gunshots. Villar said another video showed Ephron "dance around" other individuals present to protect himself, but she questioned why he followed Mayers after the initialconfrontation with the rapper.
Ephron filed a civil defamation lawsuit last September against the rapper and Tacopina, alleging that they have falsely portrayed him in the media as a liar, a money grabber and a blackmailer. He also filed suit against Mayers in August 2022 stemming from the alleged shooting.
NBCLA's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report
