A$AP Rocky found guilty of Sweden assault, won't face prison

STOCKHOLM (AP) — American rapper A$AP Rocky was found guilty of assault today 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 a total of 12,500 kronor ($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. One of them picked a fight with one of the bodyguards, Mayers said during his trial.

But the court concluded the defendants "were not in a situation where they were entitled to self-defense," according to a summary of the verdict.

"In an overall assessment the court finds that the assault has not been of such a serious nature that a prison sentence must be chosen," the summary states.

During the trial, prosecutors played video footage that showed Mayers throwing a young man to the ground.