US rapper A$AP Rocky found guilty of assault
A$AP Rocky, background right, leaves the district court in Stockholm by car, after the third day of his trial, Friday, Aug. 2, 2019. He and two other American suspects were temporarily freed from a Swedish jail to head back to the U.S., as judges mull a verdict in the assault case against them. (Fredrik Persson/TT via AP)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish court has found American rapper A$AP Rocky guilty of assault for his role in a June 30 street brawl in Stockholm.
The artist, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, earlier pleaded self-defense and said he had tried to avoid a confrontation with two men who he said were persistently following his entourage.
One of them picked a fight with one of Mayers’ two bodyguards, the rapper told the Stockholm District Court.
The courts said the defendants “were not in a situation” where they were entitled to self-defense and that they “assaulted the victim by hitting and kicking him.”