The assault and witness tampering trial of rap star Remy Ma came to a close today (March 24) in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Remy Ma, born Remy Smith, is charged with shooting her childhood friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph twice in the abdomen in July 2007, during an argument over $3,000 dollars that was missing from the rapper’s purse after a clubbing in Manhattan.
According to the Associated Press, Remy Ma’s lawyer Ivan Fisher gave his closing arguments, stating the the prosecution has not proven that she intentionally shot Barnes-Joseph.
Fisher claimed that based on Barnes-Joseph’s own testimony, the gun went off accidentally as Remy Ma struggled to search Barnes-Joseph’s handbag. Barnes-Joseph has denied taking the $3,000 dollars.
Only one of the four people present the night of the shooting claim to have witnessed Remy Ma with a .45 handgun, as she approached Barnes-Joseph’s car.
Barnes-Joseph took the stand and testified that she wasn’t worried when Remy Ma brandished her gun and demanded Barnes-Joseph to empty her purse.
“When she did that, I knew she was trying to make a scene…I knew I didn’t have her money so it didn’t bother me.”
The two started to tussle over the handbag and that’s when Remy Ma allegedly shot her in the abdomen.
According to the Associated Press, prosecutors shot down Remy’s defense.
“Ms. Smith took an illegal .45-caliber automatic and loaded it with hollow-point bullets and got into Ms. Joseph’s car…she took every step you had to take to shoot somebody,” Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntosh told jurors.
Prosecutors claimed that if the shooting was an accident, Remy Ma fled the scene, as opposed to helping her injured friend.
The case will go to the jurors, who will decide Remy Ma’s fate.
Remy Ma is currently free on $250,000 dollars bail. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
