Rapper Rick Ross, 50, was arrested Oct. 1 in Miami Beach, Florida, and charged with felony battery by strangulation and misdemeanor battery, both listed as domestic violence. His attorney says he is innocent, and an arraignment is set for Oct. 22.
Rick Ross Arrested: What the Charges Say
Ross, whose legal name is William Leonard Roberts II, was booked at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, CBS Miami reported, and was held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The Associated Press, in a story carried by WSLS, reported that he surrendered at the Miami Beach Police station two days after the woman filed her report.
Accounts of his release differ. CBS Miami reported bond of $5,000 on the strangulation count and $1,000 on the battery count, which totals $6,000. The AP reported that he was released on a $5,000 cash bond. Neither outlet explained the difference.
The outlets also name different defense lawyers. CBS Miami identified private attorney Bradley Horenstein. The AP quoted attorney Steve Sadow. The reports reviewed did not say whether the two represent Ross together.
Ross has not been convicted of anything. A judge has set his arraignment for Oct. 22, 21 days after the arrest.
What the Arrest Report Alleges
The AP described the arrest report this way: the woman told Miami Beach detectives that on Aug. 28, Ross accused her of cheating, hit her several times, choked her with the collar of her shirt and slammed her into a wall. She said she left, then came back to collect her belongings after he had gone. She filed the report on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Fox 5 New York reported a longer list of allegations from the same report. According to that account, the woman said Ross hit her in the chest, twisted her hoodie collar to choke her, grabbed her ponytail and slammed her against a wall, struck her in the face and caused a busted lip, and tried to spray her with water from a shower head. Fox 5 also reported that the two had been in a relationship for about a year and lived together. The two outlets describe the clothing differently: the AP said shirt collar and Fox 5 said hoodie collar.
CBS Miami reported that a former girlfriend of Ross had posted on social media about a lip injury roughly a month earlier, and the station wrote that the link between that post and the arrest was unclear. TMZ reported that a former girlfriend posted photos of alleged injuries the week before the arrest and that authorities had not said whether the post led to it.
TMZ said Miami Beach police and Ross’s representatives did not respond. CBS Miami said it had asked Miami Beach police and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for the arrest report and had not yet received it.
Ross’s Attorney Says He Is Innocent
Sadow said in a statement to the AP that Ross “is innocent and has pled not guilty.” The defense is focused on timing. Sadow said the woman did not file a police report until a month after the incident she described. Fox 5 reported the same defense statement and quoted attorneys saying Ross is being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend “whose true motivations are unclear.”
The calendar supports the defense’s description of the gap. The alleged incident was Aug. 28 and the report came Sept. 29, 32 days later. Ross surrendered two days after that, which puts the arrest 34 days after the alleged incident. Delay in reporting is a fact prosecutors and defense lawyers can each argue from. It does not decide whether the allegation is true, and the court has not ruled on it.
Florida Law on Battery by Strangulation
The felony count rests on a specific Florida law. Under section 784.041 of the Florida Statutes, a person who commits domestic battery by strangulation commits a third-degree felony. The statute defines the offense as knowingly and intentionally impeding the normal breathing or blood circulation of a family or household member or a dating partner by applying pressure to the throat or neck or by blocking the nose or mouth, in a way that creates a risk of great bodily harm or causes it.
That definition sets what prosecutors would have to prove at trial. The AP’s description of the report says the woman alleged she was choked with her collar. Whether the evidence meets the statute’s wording, including the requirement that breathing or blood circulation was impeded, is a question for the State Attorney’s Office and, if the case goes forward, a judge or jury.
A third-degree felony carries a maximum sentence of five years, according to section 775.082. The same section lists a maximum of one year for a first-degree misdemeanor. The reports on Ross’s case did not say which degree the battery count carries.
Ross’s 2017 Georgia Plea and Career
The AP reported that Ross pleaded no contest in 2017 to aggravated assault in Georgia. The charge came from a 2015 episode in which he was accused of forcing a man into a guesthouse at his Atlanta-area home and beating him with a handgun. Under Georgia’s first-offender program, the court exonerated him on the felony count, the AP reported.
Ross, a Miami-area native, released his debut single “Hustlin’” in 2006 and founded Maybach Music Group in 2008, according to the AP.
What Happens Next in the Ross Case
The next scheduled event is the Oct. 22 arraignment. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has not announced whether it will add or change charges, and CBS Miami said the full arrest report was not yet available from police when it published. Sadow said Ross has pleaded not guilty.
