Music icon Rihanna made a rare appearance in court to support her partner A$AP Rocky.
The Fenty make-up mogul, who shares two children with her longterm partner, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday January 29 to watch the trial of Rocky - real name Rakim Athelaston Mayers. The rapper is accused of firing a gun at former collaborator ASAP Relli (real name Terell Ephron) near a Hollywood hotel in 2021.
Mayers is charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and Rihanna came to the courthouse in LA as the trial continued with the second day of testimony from Ephron. According to sources, Mayers arrived earlier in the day without her while Rihanna reportedly snuck into the courtroom.
If Mayers is convicted, he could be facing up to 24 years in prison. Speaking of Rihanna's arrival, a source recently claimed: "Rihanna arrived around 9:49 a.m. in a blacked-out SUV and met with two security guards who tried to throw everyone off and went down a side passageway out of the court."
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GC Images)They added to The US Sun: "They jumped in her car in the underground parking lot, and she snuck into the court in a secret elevator and never walked the main corridor." It has been reported that the singer sat beside Mayer's mother and sister in the front row of the courtroom.
In November 2023, Ephron testified that he and Mayers were high school friends who were previously in the same rap collective. At the pretrial hearing, it was heard that their relationship struggled during Mayers' rise to fame, with the two former friends agreeing to meet each other on November 6, 2021, to clear the air.
Ephron claimed Mayers arrived at the meeting point with two men near the W Hotel in Hollywood, with prosecutors alleging that the two former pals had a small row before Mayers pulled a gun from his waistband and fired at Ephron. According to Ephron, the gun grazed his knuckles, with the claim supposedly being supported by CCTV footage showing Mayers holding a gun before the alleged shooting.
In 2022, L$D rapper Mayers was arrested at an airport when he and his partner came back from a trip to Barbados. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bond. Earlier in the week, Mayers turned down a plea offer consisting of a six-month jail term with a seven-year suspended sentence and three years of probation.
Mayers' lawyer, Joe Tacopina, claimed the weapon was a "prop gun" which couldn't fire real ammunition.
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