ASAP Rocky’s lawyers look for jurors on charges he fired gun at former friend

Nearly a hundred jurors packed into a US courtroom with the possibility that they will serve on the trial of ASAP Rocky, who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend.

Los Angeles prosecutors resumed questioning of potential jurors on Wednesday, focusing on their attitudes towards police and celebrities.

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin asked how many of the 12 people under questioning in the jury box consider themselves fans of Rihanna, who is Rocky’s long-time life partner and the mother of his two toddler sons.

Four said they were.

He asked them whether they will worry about the effect that convicting Rocky — on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, which could lead to many years in prison — could have on Rihanna.

“You put it in my head, and now I’m like, ‘Oh, it would affect her,’” one woman in the jury box responded.

Rocky, who is free on bail and has pleaded not guilty, sat at the defence table in a black suit, watching the questioning.

Rihanna was not in court, but Rocky’s mother and sister sat in his section of the gallery.

Before the jury panel was brought in, Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold asked him who the women were, and marvelled at the youthful appearance of his mother, Renee Black.

“What were you, seven when you had him?” the judge asked. She said she was 26.

“You are very beautiful,” the judge told her. “That’s on the record.”

Jury selection began on Tuesday 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 the two counts.

Nearly a hundred potential jurors remained in the courtroom on Wednesday.

Opening statements will begin once 12 jurors and four alternates are seated.

The trial was initially expected to last three weeks, but updated witness lists suggest it could be closer to two weeks.

After the first day of jury selection, the judge rejected a motion from defence lawyers seeking a hearing on the demographics of the jury pool.

The defence said that the geographic 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.

Out of the jurors’ presence, Joe Tacopina, Rocky’s lawyer, told the judge on Wednesday that they plan to file an appeal of that decision, given that there might be zero black jurors seated.

“We’re troubled by that to say the least,” Mr Tacopina said. “We’re in downtown Los Angeles, not a small town in Montana.”

Rocky — a 36-year-old hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor — 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 is convicted of firing a gun at Terell Ephron, a childhood friend who said that their relationship had soured and a feud came to a head on the night of November 6 2021.

While giving evidence Mr Ephron said that bullets grazed his knuckles.