Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Guilty, but no prison, for A$AP Rocky
STOCKHOLM — American rapper A$AP Rocky was found guilty of assault Wednesday by a Swedish court, six weeks after a street brawl in Stockholm that had attracted the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump.
A judge and jury found the rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, and his two bodyguards guilty of unlawfully hitting and kicking a 19-year-old man during the June 30 fight.
Despite the verdict, the defendants will not be returning to prison as the court gave them “conditional sentences” for the assault convictions. That means they don’t have to serve prison time unless they commit a similar offense in Sweden again.
The three, who spent nearly a month behind bars before being released Aug. 2, returned to the United States.
Though they were spared further jail time, the defendants have been ordered to a pay $1,310 in compensation to the victim.
Slobodan Jovicic, the Grammy-nominated artist’s Swedish defense lawyer, said he had been looking for “a complete acquittal” and expressed his disappointment at the verdict.
Mayers, 30, had pleaded self-defense and said the fight happened after he tried to avoid a confrontation with the two men he claimed had persisted in following his entourage.
The case drew the attention of American celebrities and Mayers’ fellow recording artists, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Justin Bieber. A social media campaign, #Justice For Rocky, has been pressing for his release.