REMY MA'S LAWYER CLAIMS SHOOTING WAS 'ACCIDENTAL': Story changed from rapper's July statement, 'I didn't shoot my friend.'

Remy Ma's attorney Ivan Fisher admitted in closing arguments Monday that her client did in fact shoot acquaintance Makeda Barnes-Joseph after accusing the woman of stealing money from her purse. But he says the whole thing was an accident.

Last July, Remy Ma and Barnes-Joseph were in the latter's car when they argued over Remy's missing cash, which totaled around $3,000. In a struggle over Barnes-Joseph's purse, Fisher says their hands hit the rearview mirror and the gun then went off, accidentally.

"There is no other explanation for why Remy Smith would have chosen that unique moment in time to shoot her," Fisher said.

The admission contradicts Fisher's opening remarks when he attempted to characterize Barnes-Joseph as a groupie who was misrepresenting the nature of the events in order to win money. In July, Remy vehemently denied shooting Barnes-Joseph. When reporters gathered around the rapper's New Jersey home, she maintained her innocence, yelling: "I didn't shoot my friend!"

Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntosh said the shooting does not fit the definition of an accident, which the dictionary states as "an unforeseen occurrence."

"That's not what happened here," he told the jury in his closing arguments. The prosecutor, saying the only real dispute is whether the shooting was accidental, told jurors, "Ms. Smith took an illegal .45-caliber automatic and loaded it with hollow-point bullets and got into Ms. Joseph's car."

Noting earlier testimony that Smith used both hands to cock the weapon as she got in, McIntosh said, "She took every step you had to take to shoot somebody." The prosecutor said Smith, after shooting Joseph, did not check their bodies for wounds, call for medical help or take Joseph to a hospital.

"Instead, she ran," McIntosh said. "The reason she ran was because she knew what happened in the car. Your friend is shot. Do you run or do you call 911?"

Jury deliberation in the case began Tuesday. If convicted, the Bronx artist could face up to 25 years in prison.