The two former friends had scrambled because some members of the collective estimated that A $ AP Rocky had become arrogant and ungrateful since its ascent towards celebrity.
The resentment of Mr. Ephron “is the catalyst for this incident,” said the lawyer for A $ AP Rocky, Joe Topina.
“It was Relli who was looking for a fight,” he added, considering that video surveillance images show him establishing the first physical contact.
The lawyer also assured that the weapon with which A $ AP Rocky would have threatened his ex-congeal was a simple film accessory, used in “musical clips” or to shoot white at the start of a race.
“The evidence will clearly show that the object (was) absolutely nothing but a white pistol (…), a dummy pistol,” he insisted, assuring that his client is a victim an extortion attempt.
According to the lawyer, seven police officers searched the altercation scene a few hours later, without finding either sockets or weapons.
But Mr. Ephron returned to the scene after their departure, and says he discovered a pair of 9 mm caliber sockets. Evidence he himself made, according to the lawyer.
-“It is only (…) a clearly intentional extortion attempt on the part of Relli (to finance one) extravagant lifestyle,” hammered the lawyer.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
At $ AP Rocky, who appears free, refused a plea-guilty agreement with the accusation that would have made him spend six months behind bars.
After two albums – “Long. Live. A $ AP” and “at. Long. Last. A $ AP” – which catapulted it to the rank of star during the first half of the 2010 decade, the rapper produced little music in recent years.
In 2019, he was sentenced to suspended prison in Sweden after a fight. A case that had caused diplomatic tensions between Stockholm and Washington, pushing ex-president Donald Trump to intervene.
