Prosecutors Won’t Pursue Felony Battery Charge Against Rick Ross

Nearly a month after Rick Ross turned himself in to Miami Beach Police to face domestic violence charges, prosecutors have dropped a felony charge of battery by strangulation and misdemeanor battery. NBC’s South Florida station reports that the rapper, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, will now face only one charge of misdemeanor battery/domestic violence. Roberts, who will be arraigned on Friday, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Reports from early October pointed to an alleged incident that took place on Aug. 28 at Roberts’ home on Star Island. An anonymous woman, who claimed to be the rapper’s live-in girlfriend, told police that she and Roberts had an argument about whether or not she had lied to him that escalated to the point that he allegedly slapped her, “restricted her breathing by twisting the collar of her hoodie,” and hit her against the wall. Police said the woman “provided photographic evidence of her injuries with time stamps coinciding with the event,” according to NBC.

“Not only were our investigators able to obtain a victim statement, but they also collected photographs of the injuries, surveillance video of the alleged incident, and they were able to establish probable cause for this arrest,” Miami Beach Police spokesman Christopher Bess said when news broke. “It paints a picture of a very violent attack.”
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“Mr. Ross is innocent,” his lawyer, Brad Horenstein, said earlier in October while waiting to hear from prosecutors what charges they’ll be pursuing. “There are serious doubts about this case. These are fabrications. We asked you to hold your judgment and wait because the truth will come out.” (Horenstein did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment on the reduced charges.)

Although Roberts accuser is anonymous in the official paperwork, a woman named Jazzma Kendrick posted a series of allegations against Roberts that aligned with the claims against him on social media in September. “The day Rick busted my lip and the day I left,” Kendrick wrote in an Instagram Story at the time. “I don’t know a lot of things, but I do know that a man that puts his hands on me, is a man that never loved me and never will.”