“Mr. Roberts, I have no idea who you are.” That’s what Judge Mindy Glazer told Rick Ross during his first court appearance following his arrest on domestic violence charges.
The line came right after his own lawyer asked for special treatment on the grounds that his client is famous.
Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, was booked into jail on Thursday (Oct. 1) on charges of battery and battery by strangulation. He appeared in court the same day, and his attorney opened with a pretty direct pitch. “Mr. Roberts is a celebrity,” he said.
Glazer wasn’t buying it. “So, what does that mean?” she asked.
The attorney tried again, asking that Ross’s release be expedited. “He’s in a red jumpsuit, and for purposes of his safety, I don’t know what your honor can do,” he said before trailing off.
Glazer finished the thought for him, telling Ross she knew him only “as somebody here in the court who’s going to be treated fairly just like everybody else here.”
The clip spread fast, and plenty of viewers saw it as a rare moment of a courtroom refusing to bend for star power. 50 Cent, who has been feuding with Ross for years, saw it as an opportunity. “The judge don’t know that fool,” he wrote. “LOL BOOK HIS STUPID ASS!”
That wasn’t his first shot either. Shortly after the arrest, 50 posted Rozay’s mugshot with a single word: “LOL.” The jokes keep coming from his corner, but the details in the arrest affidavit are a lot harder to laugh at.
According to the affidavit, an unnamed victim reported the alleged incident on Sept. 29, roughly a month after it reportedly happened on Aug. 28. The document says she and Roberts had been in a relationship for about a year and were living together at the time.
She told authorities she was woken up early that morning, with the affidavit tying the confrontation to the fact that “she was tagged in a photo on Instagram.”
She said Roberts accused her of lying and then slapped her in the face. Later that morning, the affidavit says, he accused her of being involved with someone she described as just a friend. “Every time the victim denied the allegations she was struck by defendant Roberts,” it reads.
The document alleges he hit her in the chest “several times” and “choked the victim to the point she could not breathe by grabbing the collar of the hoodie she was wearing and twisting it.” He is also accused of grabbing her by the ponytail and slamming her against a wall. None of these allegations have been proven in court.
The affidavit doesn’t name the woman, but the account lines up with what Ross’s ex-girlfriend Jazzma Kendrick posted on Instagram last month. She accused the rapper of physically assaulting her and shared an image of her injuries.
“It’s always good until it isn’t. If a man hits you one time, he will do it again,” she wrote. “Don’t give him the opportunity. Value your life and leave.”
For now, Ross is facing the same process as everyone else in that courtroom, exactly as Glazer promised. The case is only just getting started.
