Swedish court finds rapper A$AP Rocky guilty of assault

A$AP Rocky and two associates were found guilty of assault by a Swedish court on Wednesday, capping a case that drew international attention — including from President Trump who provoked a low level diplomatic spat with Sweden after calling for the rapper’s release.

The artist was not sentenced to any prison time, however, because the “assault has not been of such a serious nature that a prison sentence must be chosen,” according to a news release by Stockholm’s district court…

“Based on statements from two witnesses, the court finds that the defendants were not subject to a current or imminent criminal attack. Therefore, they were not in a situation where they were entitled to use violence in self-defense,” the court said in a press statement.

But the presiding judge, Senior Judge Per Lennerbrant, said in a written statement that “the prosecutor has not been able to prove that the victim was struck in the back of the head with a bottle or that he was in any other way assaulted with bottles. This has affected the assessment of the seriousness of the crime.”