His fans and supporters in the courtroom erupted in cheers after the detention decision. “There is a God,” said Rocky’s mother, Renee Black.
Rocky’s arrest and jailing a month ago precipitated an outpouring of support and anger, with celebrities, fans, congressmen and eventually President Donald Trump demanding his release. Trump went so far as to send his special envoy for hostage affairs to the trial. But the Swedish authorities ordered Rocky to remain in jail as a flight risk before and during his trial, which ended Friday.
The judge, Per Lennerbrant, did not require Rocky or his co-defendants, Bladimir Emilio Corniel and David Tyrone Rispers, to remain in Sweden, and by nightfall, Rocky had already boarded a flight out of the country, Swedish media reported. He also posted a message on Instagram thanking the court and his supporters, saying that it “has been a very difficult and humbling experience.”
Though the men could be found guilty when the verdict is handed down on Aug. 14, their release was a victory in itself, following weeks of international diplomatic pressure that seemed, to Trump’s critics at least, disproportionate to the circumstances. The president called Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Lofven, to ask for his help, and after Trump was rebuffed, he went on a brief Twitter tirade against Lofven and the whole country.
The hostage envoy, Robert C. O’Brien, said he called Trump on Friday to deliver the news. The president cheered it on Twitter. “It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!” he wrote on Twitter. (The rapper’s name is often stylized as A$AP.)
Anne Ramberg, secretary-general of the Swedish Bar Association, said that the decision to release the three men was not unusual. She would not comment on the merits of the case, but said that their release would normally be a sign that they will be found not guilty, or if they are convicted, that they will be sentenced to time served.
During closing arguments Friday, a prosecutor argued that Rocky, a 30-year-old rap star from New York whose real name is Rakim Mayers, should be found guilty of assault and sentenced to six months in jail, saying the rapper had no justification for attacking a man who had been following him on a Stockholm street in June.
“I don’t think anything other than jail is possible,” said the prosecutor, Daniel Suneson.
On Thursday, Rocky told the court that he acted in self-defense when he threw, punched and kicked Mustafa Jafari, 19. He, along with Corniel and Rispers, who also were captured on video participating in the fight, said they had used reasonable force against Jafari, who had been refusing their entreaties to leave them alone.
Rocky could have called the police, Suneson said, noting that he was also accompanied by a bodyguard at the time. “They have used more violence than what was required to defend themselves,” Suneson said. “It was excessive.”
Slobodan Jovicic, Rocky’s lawyer, also took a firm line in his summation. “My client should be found not guilty and freed today,” he said.
Jafari had tried to hit Rocky’s bodyguard and had thrown a pair of headphones at him before Rocky struck him, Jovicic said.
Before the closing arguments Friday, the court heard from several witnesses. One supported Rocky’s account of the incident, while others contradicted it.
Rocky’s bodyguard, Timothy Williams, said that he had noticed “something green” in Jafari’s hand — the use of bottles in the scuffle was a major theme during the trial — and that Jafari, who was accompanied by a friend, swung a punch at him.
“It hit me lightly,” Williams said. “Then Rocky came to my defense because he saw it was a situation of two against one.”
Other witnesses recalled the events differently. Khadra Mohamed and Farhia Ali, both 18, witnessed the fight, and Mohamed recorded part of it. Both said they had not seen Jafari attacking anyone in Rocky’s group, though Mohamed said it was also possible she had missed it.
Mohamed said she saw Rocky throw Jafari. “His two friends then jumped in and started to hit him while he was on the ground,” she added. She was filming on Snapchat at the time, and that clip has been widely circulated online. But the video did not show all of the attack, she said. “They continued to hit him some more,” Mohamed said. Jafari suffered a broken rib and several cuts.
Throughout the three-day trial, the prosecution and defense returned repeatedly to the question of whether a bottle played any role in the incident, which could be considered an aggravating factor in determining the length of any sentence. Jafari said he believed he had been hit behind his right ear with a bottle, and though prosecutors said that Rocky and Corniel had been seen holding bottles (Rocky said he picked one up only to move it out of the way), no one at trial was able to say who, if anyone, hit Jafari with a bottle.
Jovicic, Rocky’s lawyer, argued that Jafari hadn’t been hit by a bottle at all. To make his case, he used a prop: a green glass bottle of Monistrol cava, a cheap sparkling wine, which he placed in front of the judge.
He said it was the same type of bottle as one that was found smashed at the scene. Jafari suffered a cut to his head, Jovicic said, but having a bottle like that smashed against your head would result in a graver injury, he argued.
On Aug. 14, he will know if his argument prevailed. His client’s own final plea was answered Friday.
“I would like to get a proper shower,” Rocky told the judge. “And then take it easy and be with my mother and friends.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.