Rihanna’s boyfriend, ASAP Rocky, argued his actions against A$AP Relli were done in self-defense and demanded his former pal’s civil lawsuit be thrown out of court, weeks after being acquitted in a criminal case over the same incident, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Rocky (real name: Rakim Mayers) filed an amended answer to the suit brought by Relli (real name: Terrell Ephron) over the 2021 incident between the two in Hollywood.
Relli accused Rocky of shooting at him, which led to a bullet striking his hand.
From the start, Rocky has denied he ever shot a gun.
His lawyer said, “Rocky didn’t commit a crime.”
“As a result of being placed in fear of immediate grievous bodily harm, [Relli] suffered and continues to suffer physical, mental and emotional injuries,” the lawsuit read.
Rocky denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Rihanna’s boyfriend was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Rocky asked for Relli’s civil lawsuit to be put on hold until the outcome of his criminal case, which caused the civil case to drag on for over a year.
In February, Rocky was found not guilty in his criminal case. Rocky, who previously said he did not want to fully engage with Relli’s civil suit to avoid any issues with his defense in the criminal case, once again asked the court to dismiss Relli’s suit.
His lawyer noted, “Defendant was prevented from asserting his affirmative defenses because of his constitutionally protected Fifth Amendment privileges in the related Criminal Prosecution.”
In his amended answer to the lawsuit, Rocky argued Relli’s injuries were caused by Relli’s “own aggressive acts” and said his actions were done in self-defense resulting from Relli’s “aggression.”
Further, his lawyer argued, “[Relli’s] alleged injuries, if any, were caused by [Relli’s] own aggressive acts and the reasonable and justified acts to prevent an illegal attempt by force to take or injure property in [Rocky’s] lawful possession resulting directly from [Relli’s] aggression.”
The lawyer continued, “Accordingly, [Relli] may not recover damages from [Rocky].”
In addition, Rocky said he is not responsible for any of Relli’s alleged harm because he, with “no adequate alternative, acted in an emergency to prevent significant bodily harm to himself/or others. [Rocky’s] acts did not create a greater danger to the one avoided. [Rocky] asserts that it was necessary or reasonably appeared to him to be necessary, to so act to prevent serious harm to himself and or/others.”
His lawyer also said the “damages [Relli] claims to have suffered were almost entirely caused by an event that occurred after the alleged events described in the complaint, thus [Rocky] is not responsible for [Relli’s] claimed damages.”
Rocky asked that Relli not be awarded a dime and his lawsuit be dismissed.
As In Touch previously reported, Rihanna was front and center for part of Rocky’s criminal trial. The billionaire pop star and businesswoman appeared in the front rows of the court and watched multiple days of the trial. She was present in the court when Rocky was acquitted on all charges.
