Barbadian singer Rihanna (C) and Rakim Mayers, aka A$AP Rocky (2nd R), leave the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center after the verdic in his felony assault trial in Los Angeles, California, on February 18, 2025. Picture: Frederic J. Brown / AFP
Image: Frederic J. Brown / AFP
Billionaire Rihanna is breathing a sigh of relief after her man and baby Daddy Asap Rocky was found not guilty by a jury of shooting his former friend A$AP Relli.
“The Glory belongs to God and God alone! Thankful, humbled by his mercy,” she wrote on her Instagram stories not long after the verdict had been announced.
Rocky, real name Rakim Meyers, was on trial on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
Rihanna took to her Instagram stories to thank God after the father of her children was found not guilty in his felony assault case. Picture: Instagram/badgirlriri
Image: Instagram/badgirlriri
The trial went on for three weeks, and according to reports the jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a verdict.
"Thank y’all for saving my life," Rocky reportedly told the jurors as they left the Los Angeles courtroom.
When the verdict was read, Rocky immediately jumped into celebration and went to hug Rihanna and his family in attendance.
Throughout the ordeal, which steams from a 2021 incident, Rihanna has stuck by her man, even attending the trial and even bringing the couple’s two sons — 2-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and 1-year-old Riot Rose Mayers.
Attorney Joe Tacopina had argued that Rocky was carrying a harmless prop gun from a music video on the night he allegedly shot a former friend in Hollywood.
The two had previously been friends, and had both been part of A$AP, a rap collective from New York, but had fallen out because other group members felt Mayers' commercial success had made him arrogant.
Relli, real name Terell Ephron's resentment "is the catalyst for this incident," Mayers' attorney Joe Tacopina argued.
In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney John Lewin urged the jurors not to be influenced by the celebrity or family aspects of the case and suggested Rihanna bringing the kids to closing arguments was an attempt to manipulate the jury.
“You are not allowed to consider how this might affect Rihanna and his kids,” the prosecutor said. “We are all responsible for our actions in the world.”
Before the trial began Mayers rejected an offered plea deal that would have seen him serve six months in jail in exchange for admitting one of the charges against him.
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