The prosecution in the Remy Ma assault case gave their closing arguments yesterday (Mar. 24) as the trial for the Bronx-bred rapper comes to a end.
Remy Ma's lawyer, Ivan Fisher, said in his closing arguments that the prosecution did not prove that the shooting was anything more than an accident.
Fisher told jurors that Remy (born Remy Smith) got into plaintiff Makeda Barnes-Joseph's car on July of last year, and accused her of stealing $3,000. After demanding that Barnes-Joseph dump her purse's contents, Fisher said, both women got into a tussle and their hands hit the car's rearview mirror, resulting in the gun going off.
"There is no other explanation for why Remy Smith would have chosen that unique moment in time to shoot her," Fisher said.
He also said that Remy had a good reason to suspect Barnes-Joseph - an acquaintance of the rapper - of taking the money, as she had previously reached into Remy's purse to answer a call on her cell phone.
But prosecutors rebutted the claim. According to the Associated Press, Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntosh defined an accident as "an unforeseen occurrence," and told the jury, "That's not what happened here."
McIntosh said the only real dispute is whether the shooting was accidental, telling jurors, "Ms. Smith took an illegal .45-caliber automatic and loaded it with hollow-point bullets and got into Ms. Joseph's car."
The prosecution continued to apply the pressure saying that Smith used both hands to cock the weapon as she got in and that "She took every step you had to take to shoot somebody."
The prosecutor said Smith, after shooting Barnes-Joseph, did not check her body for wounds, call for medical help or take the plaintiff to a hospital.
"Instead, she ran," McIntosh said. "The reason she ran was because she knew what happened in the car. Your friend is shot. Do you run or do you call 911?"
The attorney went on to say how Remy fled the scene and that the gun used in the shooting was never recovered.
The jury could begin to deliberate on the case as soon as today.
If found guilty of first degree assault, among other charges related to the case, Remy Ma faces up to 25 years in prison.