- A$AP Rocky has been found guilty of assault but won’t face anymore jail time
- He flew back to the United States on August 3 after a month in jail
- He and his bodyguards are accused of beating a 19-year-old in Stockholm
- Star was backed by President Trump who spoke to the Swedish Prime Minister
- Rapper ‘disappointed’ but will ‘100 percent’ return to the country to perform
A$AP Rocky has been found guilty of assault Wednesday by a Swedish Court, but the Grammy-winning artist will not face anymore jail time.
The 30-year-old rapper was handed a conditional sentence and ordered to a pay a total of 12,500 kronor ($1,307) in compensation after the court found the assault was not ‘of such a serious nature’ to warrant additional time behind bars.
A$AP, real name Rakim Mayers, had already been held in a Stockholm jail for a month after he and his bodyguards were accused of beating a 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari in the capital on June 30.
Mayers had pleaded self-defense and claimed he tried to avoid a confrontation with two men who he said were persistently following his entourage.
However, in its ruling, the Stockholm District Court said the performer’s claims of self-defense had been rejected.
A$AP Rocky is not legally obliged to attend Stockholm District Court today but could be sentenced to two years in jail for the June 30 brawl. He flew back to the US earlier this month
His release was celebrated by President Donald Trump who tweeted: ‘A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United States from Sweden. It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!’
‘The defendants have claimed that they acted in self-defense. Based on statements from two witnesses, the court finds that the defendants were not subject to a current or imminent criminal attack,’ presiding judge Per Lennerbrant said.
‘Therefore, they were not in a situation where they were entitled to use violence in self-defense. Nor could they have perceived themselves to be in such a situation.’
Prosecutors urged the court to convict Mayers and sentence him to at least six months in jail, but the judge sided against the motion.
The New Yorker flew back to the States earlier this month and was not legally obliged to attend the verdict at Stockholm District Court.
News of his initial incarceration after the incident angered fans and even strained relations between the United States and Sweden.
The case also drew the attention of American celebrities such as Kim Kardashian-West, and of Mayers’ fellow recording artists, including Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Justin Bieber. A social media campaign, #JusticeForRocky, was started to press for his release.
President Trump intervened on behalf of the rapper while he was jailed, and called Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, offering to personally guarantee his bail.
Trump even went as far as to warn the country of ‘negative consequences’ if they didn’t acquiesce to his demands to release Mayers.
In response, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven insisted ‘the Government is not allowed, and will not attempt, to influence the legal proceedings,’ and said the rapper was not privy to special treatment just because he’s famous.
But after increasing diplomatic pressure, Mayers and his two bodyguards were released on August 2 pending the verdict and all three returned to the United States.
Mayers was spotted cheerfully greeting friends at Los Angeles International Airport after flying back on a private jet on August 3. He called the arrest ‘humbling’ and ‘scary’.
While locked up with co-defendants David Rispers Jr and Bladimir Corniel claimed they were forced to sleep ‘on a yoga mat with no duvet for blankets’.
Their release was celebrated by Donald Trump who tweeted: ‘A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United States from Sweden. It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!’
A$AP Rocky was spotted smiling at Los Angeles International Airport, California on August 3
A private jet lands at Arlanda airport, Sweden to pick up US rapper A$AP Rocky, after he was released from custody, pending the verdict of his June street brawl assault trial
Mayers told the court earlier this month that Mustafa Jafari, 19, and his friend refused to leave the entourage alone despite several appeals, and claimed they appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
Testifying in court, Jafari said his memory of the events was confused because of the blows to his head during the brawl.
He had told police earlier that he got angry as his headphones were broken during the initial argument with a bodyguard.
A full-scale brawl ensued shortly afterward and prosecutors allege that Mayers, Rispers, Jr. and Corniel, punched and kicked Jafari while he was on the ground.
They said Jafari was hit with parts of or a whole bottle.
A video of the brawl shows A$AP Rocky throwing a man to the floor and punching him, but footage released by the rapper himself shows two men following him and throwing the first blow at his security
During the day, two women who initially told police they had seen Mayers use a bottle in the brawl admitted that they hadn’t seen it – and had only heard the glass break
Jafari claimed the rapper pushed him to the ground. The prosecution played video footage in court showing Mayers throwing a young man to the ground, and photos showed the alleged victim’s cuts, bruises and blood-stained clothes.
But prosecutors were unable to substantiate Jafari’s claims that he’d been struck in the head with a bottle, which was the central focus point of the trial.
‘The overall evidentiary situation in the case has been complex. The prosecutor has not been able to prove that the victim was struck in the back of the head with a bottle or that he was in any other way assaulted with bottles,’ said judge Per Lennerbrant.
‘This has affected the assessment of the seriousness of the crime.’
The rapper’s lawyer Slobodan Jovicic expressed that his client was ‘disappointed by the verdict’ but said it was too early to appeal it.
When question whether Mayers would return to Sweden to perform for fans, Jovicic said: ‘I know he’ll be back. 100 percent.’
