A$AP Rocky's lawyers look for favorable jurors on charges he fired gun at former friend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearly a hundred jurors packed into a Los Angeles courtroom again on Wednesday with the possibility that they’ll serve on the trial of A$AP Rocky, who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend.

Los Angeles prosecutors resumed questioning of potential jurors, focusing on their attitudes toward police and celebrity.

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 longtime life partner and the mother of his two toddler sons. Four said they were.

He asked them whether they'll 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 defense 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 marveled at the youthful appearance of his mother, Renee Black.

“What were you, 7 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 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 defense lawyers seeking a hearing on the demographics of the jury pool. The defense 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 attorney, told the judge 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," 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's convicted of firing a gun at Terell Ephron, a childhood friend who testified that their relationship had soured and a feud came to a head on the night of Nov. 6, 2021. Ephron testified that bullets grazed his knuckles.