A$AP Rocky says he’s ready to start over following his dramatic acquittal on felony gun charges – exclusively telling DailyMail.com: ‘I cannot express how relieved I am.’
The rapper, 36, jumped for joy and hugged his partner Rihanna after he was cleared of two counts of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm following a three-week trial.
Rocky – real name Rakim Mayers – faced two decades in prison for his alleged involvement in a 2021 dust-up with former pal Terell Ephron, aka A$AP Relli.
But he’s a free man and ready to turn the page after defense attorney-to-the-stars Joe Tacopina convinced jurors that the Praise the Lord hitmaker was the victim of an extortion plot.
‘I cannot express how relieved I am especially for our family,’ Rocky told DailyMail.com in an exclusive statement.
‘Rihanna and I can get back to our lives and our kids without this trial hanging over our heads like it has been for the last three years.’
A$AP Rocky, 36, was acquitted of all charges on Tuesday and embraced his defense attorney Joe Tacopina after he convinced the jury that the rapper was a victim of an extortion plot
Defense attorney-to-the-stars Tacopina received high praise from Rocky who said he ‘believed in me’ and followed through by showing why he’s ‘the best trial lawyer in the country’
Rocky – real name Rakim Mayers – faced two decades in prison for his alleged involvement in a 2021 dust-up with former pal Terell Ephron, aka A$AP Relli
The three-time Grammy nominee thanked jurors for ‘saving his life’ in the wake of Wednesday’s verdict.
But he reserved his biggest praise for Tacopina, a veteran litigator whose celebrity client list reads like a who’s who of the rich and powerful.
‘Joe believed in me, always told me it would be alright and showed why he is considered the best trial lawyer in the country,’ gushed Rocky.
He added: ‘Aside from Joe I need to thank God and this amazing jury.’
Rocky and Umbrella singer Rihanna – parents to RZA, two, and 18-month-old Riot – reportedly pledged to name their third child A$AP Joe as a measure of their gratitude.
‘He could have been going to a state prison for upwards of a decade so he realizes this was a watershed moment in his life,’ Tacopina told DailyMail.com.
Tacopina speaking to the media outside of the courthouse after the not guilty verdict was given alongside Rocky and Rihanna
Rocky and Umbrella singer Rihanna – parents to RZA, two, and 18-month-old Riot – reportedly pledged to name their third child A$AP Joe as a measure of their gratitude
Rocky jumped for joy and hugged his partner Rihanna after he was cleared of two counts of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm following a three-week trial
‘He took a day or so to hug his wife and kids and really just take it all in. Next morning he was back in the studio working on his new album.
‘He’s got the Met Gala coming up that he’s co-hosting. He’s laser focused on the future.’
Rocky and Ephron had been friends since they were teenagers in a group called A$AP Mob that started in New York in 2005.
But the more success Rocky enjoyed the more his childhood pal resented him, a downtown Los Angeles court heard.
By the time of the alleged shooting on November 6, 2021, ‘there was a lot of tension’ between the pair, prosecutors alleged. Ephron testified that his former friend fired two shots at him from a handgun during a clash outside a Hollywood parking garage, grazing his knuckles.
But Tacopina argued that Rocky was actually carrying a prop gun incapable of firing real bullets.
Tacopina was previously on Trump’s legal team and represented the now-President at his Stormy Daniels hush money trial until he submitted a letter for him and his firm to withdraw in January 2024
Tacopina notably was praised for his skills during the civil defamation and battery case brought by former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carrol, even though Trump lost that suit and was ordered to pay $5million in damages
Tacopina was in law school when he got his big break working for the team of lawyers that secured an acquittal for Mafia boss John Gotti in the shooting of a union official
‘He fired the prop gun twice, hoping to scare off Relli,’ Tacopina told jurors.
‘There were no shell casings. No bullet fragments, no damage to cars, no broken windows. There was no evidence of a real gun being fired.’
Tacopina painted Ephron as a ‘parasite’ motivated by a $30million civil lawsuit that he brought against Rocky.
‘He is a proven criminal and perjurer. He lies about everything in this case. The evidence is going to make clear that he is trying to extort money from Rocky,’ Tacopina went on.
He told jurors: ‘This case is about one man’s jealousy, lies and greed, and that man is not Rocky. That man is Terell Ephron.’
Rocky had rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to jail for six months for admitting a single charge.
Tacopina painted Ephron as a ‘parasite’ motivated by a $30million civil lawsuit that he brought against Rocky.’ They also boldly rejected a plea deal that would’ve sent him to jail for six months
Tacopina also represented rapper Meek Mill in 2018 and is seen standing beside the rapper and MSNBC host and civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton
That proved a smart decision when jurors returned not guilty verdicts, sparking jubilant scenes among the hip hop star’s entourage.
Rihanna celebrated by writing on Instagram: ‘THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD ALONE. THANKFUL, HUMBLED BY HIS MERCY!’
‘This has been hanging over them all for three plus years. That’s why you saw the raw emotion coming from Rihanna and all of us actually,’ Tacopina explained.
‘I don’t just treat people as clients, I treat them like family. You develop a bunker mentality and when you’re in it with them you understand the ramifications for their lives.
‘You see those two little kids and you know what this means for them. The pressure was enormous.’
This week’s trial wraps the 120th of Tacopina’s colorful career as one of the county’s most sought-after defense attorneys.
The high-profile defense lawyer got Mill out of jailtime in New York City after he was found guilty of possessing drugs and a firearm and freed on bail in 2017
Tacopina posing with his other client, rapper YG, who he got off the hook when Los Angeles’ DA office declined to file robbery charges against him in 2022
The pugnacious New Yorker was still in law school when he got his big break working for the team of lawyers that secured an acquittal for Mafia boss John Gotti in the shooting of a union official.
Tacopina, 58, later declared he would never defend another mobster because his dad Cosmo, a proud Italian immigrant, hated them for putting the squeeze on his family’s deli.
A former high school hockey star, he joined the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office where he won 49 of his 50 cases.
But he’s best known for representing the likes of Donald Trump, Michael Jackson, former Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, Meek Mill, another high-profile rapper, and rapper YG among countless others.
His cross-examination of E. Jean Carroll in her defamation and battery suit against the President was singled out last year as ‘textbook’ by retired judge and TV commentator Andrew Napolitano in spite of Trump losing.
‘I mean, so good that law students will study it in the future,’ Napolitano told Fox & Friends.
Fox host Sean Hannity, a former client, called dad-of-five Tacopina one of the ‘greatest defense attorneys of all time’.
‘I was born to be a trial lawyer. It’s an almost combative sport. I love the theater of it,’ Tacopina told DailyMail.com.
‘If you told me I had to be a corporate lawyer at one of those big corporate law firms, I’d rather serve espressos at Starbucks.’
