A$AP's private jet touched down at LAX after a long flight from Sweden ... this after the judges in his criminal case allowed him to leave the country as they noodled over the verdict.

The rapper was ecstatic ... smiling, taking pics with folks, hugging people. He actually stayed in the private terminal parking lot for around 45 minutes, talking and joking most of the time.

As we reported, all signs point to a not guilty verdict. Prosecutors in the assault case asked the judges to keep Rocky behind bars because he remained a flight risk. The judges had a middle-ground option -- to release him from custody but order that he remain in Sweden, pending the verdict which will be announced on August 14, but instead they let him return to the U.S.

Fact is ... a judge thought he was a flight risk a month ago when he threw Rocky in jail, even before charges were filed, so he'd be at least as much of a flight risk today ... and that's why it seems like it doesn't matter anymore and that he'll be found not guilty.

Our Rocky sources say he's never going back to Sweden, and even though his position has been that race was not a factor, privately everyone in his camp thinks it was, and he probably does as well. It was smart of him not to take a stand on the racial issue, for fear of inflaming the judges.

The key to the case seems to be a green bottle. Prosecutors maintained Rocky hit the alleged victim over the head with it, but not a single witness supported the theory, nor did the video. You do see Rocky holding a bottle, but he says he did it to fend off the guy and put it down on the ground.

Rocky does not have to appear in court for the verdict. It will be a written decision.