ASAP Rocky Keeps His Trial Start Date For Shooting Case In New Ruling

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A$AP Rocky X American Sabotage by AWGE: Front Row - Paris Fashion Week -  Menswear Spring/Summer 2025
PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 21: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY - For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) Rihanna and Asap Rocky attend the A$AP Rocky X American Sabotage by AWGE Menswear Spring/Summer 2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 21, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
ASAP Rocky may have just finally announced the release date for his new album, but there are more pressing matters on his calendar.

ASAP Rocky may have just finally announced the August 30 release date of his highly anticipated new album Don't Be Dumb, but it looks like his calendar has another big life update looming over it now. Moreover, the court gave him an October 21 start date for his jury trial on Thursday (June 20), centered around accusations that he shot colleague A$AP Relli. For those unaware, the Harlem rapper stands accused of firing at Relli at a Los Angeles street corner over two years ago. He denied any and all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to two assault charges with a semiautomatic gun.

Furthermore, the judge gave a specific order A$AP Rocky and his team assisted by defense lawyer Sara Caplan, who was at the morning hearing where the court issued their start date for the trial. Specifically, the judge asked the defense to submit their planned motion to dismiss the case by July 19. Caplan relayed that the team still waits for medical records from A$AP Relli's alleged hospital visit. According to a Los Angeles Police Department detective who testified last November, no footage from the supposed incident proves that the alleged shooting happened, and law enforcement authorities were not able to recover weapons in this case.

ASAP Rocky At His AWGE Spring/Summer 2025 Show

US rapper and designer ASAP Rocky aknowledges the audience at the end of the American Sabotage AWGE Spring/Summer 2025 menswear ready to wear collection show as part of Paris Fashion Week in Paris, on June 21, 2024. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP) (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)

"The court agrees with the defense that you don’t see an actual shooting on the video," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar said last November concerning A$AP Rocky's case. "Later, in another section of video, you do hear two shots. [...] Tempers heightened on both sides. [...] In any event, Mr. Ephron does what appears to be a dance around the other individuals to avoid [a] shot. His testimony is that he was shot."

"He swore under oath (that) no, he did not [ask for millions of dollars to make the case disappear]," ASAP Rocky's lawyer Joe Tacopina said of his client's alleged victim. "That’s not going to bode well for him at trial. Common sense is going to prevail and we’re going to get [Rocky, who might testify in his own defense] through this, and he’s going to be vindicated. The evidence we have that they don’t know about is going to be devastating... devastating."

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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