Miami-Dade Prosecutors Trim Charges Against Rapper

Miami-Dade County prosecutors dropped the felony battery and strangulation charge against William Roberts II on Friday, October 30. The rapper, known professionally as Rick Ross, now faces only two misdemeanor counts: battery and domestic battery. Officials cited insufficient evidence as the reason for dismissing the most serious count.

The case traces back to August when Roberts’ ex-girlfriend, Jazzma Kendrick, filed a police report. She told officers that the couple had a verbal dispute over an Instagram post she was tagged in. Kendrick alleged that Roberts slapped her face repeatedly whenever she denied being in a relationship with the person who tagged her. She also claimed he struck her chest multiple times, causing breathing difficulties, and grabbed her ponytail to slam her head into the ground, which busted her lip.

Roberts pleaded not guilty to all charges. When speaking to reporters earlier this month, he stated, “I’m totally innocent of these fabricated allegations made against me.” His defense attorneys, Bradley Horenstein and Steve Sadow, emphasized in a statement that the ex-girlfriend did not file a police report until a month after the alleged incident. They described the accusations as driven by unclear motivations and requested that the public allow the judicial process to run its course without prejudging the situation.

The dismissal of the felony charge leaves the two misdemeanor cases active in Miami-Dade County. Ross reacted to the news briefly on social media on Friday.