A$AP Rocky may take the risk of taking the stand at his felony assault trial

Rapper A$AP Rocky arrives at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES — A$AP Rocky may take the risk of taking the stand in his own defense on Tuesday at his trial over two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

In discussion with a Los Angeles judge on the last phases of Rocky’s trial, his lawyer Joe Tacopina said that either his client would testify early Tuesday or the defense would rest its case. An attorney for the prosecution said his team was going to spend the night preparing for Rocky’s testimony.

He is not legally required to testify, and subjecting a defendant to a difficult cross-examination is often a major gamble in criminal cases.

Tacopina said before the trial that Rocky was “eager to tell his story. He would love the opportunity to do so.”

The attorneys could not give comment outside court Monday because a judge has forbidden them from speaking to the media. Rocky faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted, after turning down a pre-trial plea deal that could have led to just 180 days in jail.

If Rocky testifies, he’ll probably have to face a long and combative cross-examination from Deputy District Attorney John Lewin. In his most famous case, Lewin kept real estate heir Robert Durst on the stand for nine days of relentless questioning before he was convicted of murder.

Rocky is a Grammy-nominated hip-hop star, fashion mogul and the longtime partner of singing superstar Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons. She may appear Tuesday to watch his testimony.

She has shown up sporadically — most recently on Friday, when they left the courthouse together for the first time, walking arm-in-arm.

Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, would likely testify that a gun he fired twice — in a scuffle with a former friend on a Hollywood street corner in 2021 — was a starter pistol that only fired blanks, and that he carried it for security.

On Monday, his tour manager became the second witness from Rocky’s inner circle to testify that he carried the phony gun.

Lou Levin said he told the rapper it made sense to carry it after Rocky’s house had been broken into by a stalker and others.

“Security and I thought it would be a good idea, because of the prior violence,” Levin said. ”It’s just a nonlethal form of self-defense.”

Levin said he got the gun from a video shoot in the summer of 2021, about three months before the incident that led to the charges, and on the day itself.

He told the jury that he returned the phony gun to the music video’s co-director, who no longer had it when Levin asked about it after Rocky’s arrest. The defense said it does not have the starter pistol now.

Authorities also did not recover the pistol they allege Rocky used.

Levin testified that an ammunition magazine found in Rocky’s house by officers serving a search warrant actually belonged to him.

Lewin, the prosecutor, said “you had to come up with a story” to explain the magazine. He later called every aspect of the story “a lie.”

“I didn’t have to come up with a story — it’s the truth,” Levin said.

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press