According to People Magazine, Judge M.L. Villar stated during the preliminary hearing in Los Angeles that the evidence shown was sufficient to try him.
During the initial trial on Monday, November 20, 2023, the former member of the A$AP Mob, ASAP Relli, claimed that he was hit by bullet fragments during the argument with Rocky when the rapper fired his gun at him. After this, he claimed that he sought medical assistance at a hospital in New York.
During the hearing, a picture of Relli’s minor injuries displayed in the courtroom showed small patches of raw, bloody skin on the knuckles of his index, middle, and ring fingers of his left hand. Relli, Rocky’s childhood friend, went into details about the assault after their argument back in November 2021.
He narrated, “He grabbed me on my collar. He was shaking me. I tried to push him off, get his hands off. That’s when Rocky pulled a gun from his waistband. It was a standard clip and a semi-automatic black gun. He pointed it toward my stomach, ‘I’ll kill you right now. Oh, he was angry,’ he continued. ‘He had the gun pressed up against me, to my chest then head. I said, ‘Shoot it’ because I was mad, why you bring a gun if you’re not going to use it?’ I would never bring a weapon. Not in that situation. Rocky turned around and shot at me.”
After the hearing, Rocky’s legal team stood firmly behind his innocence, stating that the rapper denied all claims made by his childhood friend. They stressed that Relli’s injuries were not caused by Rocky in any way.
Rocky’s legal team stated, “Defendant generally denies each and every allegation of the complaint and specifically denies that Plaintiff has been damaged in any amount or in any way as a result of any act or omission of the answering defendant. The injuries and/or damages complained of in the complaint, if any, were caused solely, directly, and proximately by the negligent and/or intentional acts or omissions of persons other than the answering defendant.”
Despite all Relli said, the rapper himself pleaded not guilty to the two counts of assault with a firearm. The two shall battle it out in court in January 2024.
