LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearly a hundred jurors will pack back into a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday with the possibility that they’ll serve on the three-week trial of A$AP Rocky, who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend.
Los Angeles prosecutors will do most of their questioning of potential jurors, who were asked by the defense lawyers for the star rapper, fashion maven and actor Tuesday whether they had negative feelings toward hip-hop, guns or even people from New York.
“When I get up here with this ridiculous accent, which I try not to have but I do, is anyone going to have a problem?” asked defense attorney Joe Tacopina, who like his client is from New York.
No one conceded any negative feelings.
“I love LA,” the lawyer added.
Nearly half of initial group in the jury box said they had heard of A$AP Rocky before coming to court. Nearly all said they had heard of Rihanna, his longtime partner and the mother of his two young sons.
All agreed they would not let the couple’s celebrity affect their judgment in either direction.
Jury selection began after the 36-year-old Rocky turned down a deal offering 180 days in jail, a seven-year suspended sentence and three years’ probation if he would plead guilty to one of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
A pool of 106 jurors were brought in. Some were excused for hardships. One man was excused because he said he was so anti-gun he couldn’t be impartial. Once 12 of them and alternates are seated, opening statements will begin. That could come as early as Wednesday afternoon.
At the end of Tuesday’s proceedings, Rocky’s lawyers sought a hearing on the demographics of the jury pool, saying that the area that potential jurors were pulled from is 9% African-American, but by their assessment of the room less than 5% of those summoned were black.
“There is a distinctive group that’s missing,” Rocky’s attorney Chad Seigel said, arguing that it was a violation of of the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and California law.
Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold rejected the motion.
“There’s no authority that requires any particular percentage of any ethnicity on a jury,” he said.
Rocky has been named one of the celebrity chairs of the Met Gala in May, and has a major role in a Spike Lee-directed film with Denzel Washington to be released soon after.
But his life could be upended if he’s convicted of firing a gun at Terell Ephron, a childhood friend who testified that their relationship had soured and a feud came to a head on the night of Nov. 6, 2021. Ephron testified that bullets grazed his knuckles.
Tacopina also revealed for the first time in court Tuesday that the defense plans to call witnesses to testify that a firearm seen on a security video is a starter pistol that Rocky carried as a prop for security.
