Cardi B Beats Security Guard’s Bid For New Trial Over Pen-Tossing Claim

Key Takeaways:

• The judge denied a retrial in Cardi B’s civil assault case, citing lack of jury intimidation.
• Cardi’s viral pen toss outside the courthouse became a focal point of the retrial request.
• The court emphasized that the jury’s verdict was based on evidence.

Cardi B is now 2–0 in her legal battle with Emani Ellis, who claimed the Grammy-winning rapper scratched her face outside a Beverly Hills OB-GYN’s office in 2018. On Friday (Dec. 5), Los Angeles County Judge Ian Fusselman denied the security guard’s request for a new trial.

According to Rolling Stone, Judge Fusselman found no grounds to overturn the earlier unanimous ruling. In her motion, Ellis argued that jurors were intimidated by the “Pretty & Petty” artist after she threw a pen to the ground when YouTuber Donat Ricketts asked about her then-looming pregnancy rumors outside the courthouse.

Footage showed Cardi snatching the pen she was going to use to sign an autograph and tossing it toward him. “Stop disrespecting me,” she said to Ricketts. “Don’t disrespect me.”

In a sworn declaration submitted on Thursday (Dec. 4), Ricketts claimed the pen bounced off the ground and struck him. A juror did witness the exchange and later asked about it, but Ricketts said he was “not planning to sue.” Ellis argued that the moment could have “intimidated” the jury, but Judge Fusselman pointed out it may have actually helped her position.

“We’re speculating about how it impacted them,” he said. “Wouldn’t that tend to help your case, rather than hurt it? Isn’t that why you wanted the jury to find out about it? You came into court and said, ‘I want [the] jury to know this just happened.’”

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Cardi B is seen on August 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

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Ultimately, Judge Fusselman said the jurors cleared Cardi based solely on the evidence. “They were free to ask any questions or make any comments, and they didn’t,” he added. “I don’t find that anything outside the courtroom had any impact on the jury’s deliberations.”

After the civil trial, which Cardi won in September, she reiterated that she “did not touch that woman.” Speaking with reporters, the mother of four said, “I did not touch that girl. I didn’t lay my hands on that girl.”