Tory Lanez Was Convicted of Shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Tory Lanez Was Convicted of Shooting Megan Thee Stallion: In Los Angeles, A Los Angeles jury on Friday convicted Daystar Peterson, the Canadian rapper better known by his stage name Tory Lanez, responsible for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in both feet in the summer of 2020 after a disagreement over their romantic relationships and individual careers. The 30-year-old Mr. Lanez was found guilty of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic handgun, possession of a loaded, unregistered firearm within a motor vehicle, and careless discharge of a gun.

He might be deported and face a sentence of more than 20 years in prison. After nearly two weeks of testimony, the jury deliberated for about seven hours over two days before reaching a decision. Following a term of house arrest, Mr. Lanez, who had been released on bond during the trial, was immediately brought into custody. The sentencing date was set on January 27.

Megan Thee Stallion did not attend the hearing. Mr. Lanez remained motionless and fixed his gaze forward as the verdict was announced until his father got up and started yelling at the court and the prosecution. As bailiffs rushed to obstruct his route, he added, “God will judge you. According to Megan Thee Stallion’s attorney Alex Spiro, the jury got it right. I’m glad Meg has received justice.

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The case, which was closely watched because of its famous characters and what it said about the recent resolution of allegations of abuse by well-known men, like Johnny Depp and Harvey Weinstein, in court and public, played out as both a tawdry tabloid narrative and a weighty referendum on the treatment of Black women in hip-hop and beyond.

Despite not being well-known before the incident, Mr. Lanez has gained more notoriety as a result of the shooting, receiving both explicit and implicit support from various hip-hop figures, including 50 Cent and Joe Budden, two rappers who have transitioned into talking heads, as well as influential blogs and social media accounts. The potential of a second shooter, a friend of Megan Thee Stallion who was also involved in the argument on the way home from a gathering at the residence of the reality star and makeup entrepreneur Kylie Jenner, was brought up by Mr. Lanez’s defense in court.

However, Megan Thee Stallion, a witness in the case, positively recognized Mr. Lanez as the person who attacked her. She described in great detail how he shouted “dance” and a sexist epithet at her before opening fire from the passenger seat of a sport utility vehicle. She claimed that Mr. Lanez afterward apologized and gave her and her friend Kelsey Harris a million dollars apiece in exchange for their silence.

In his closing argument, Alexander Bott, a deputy district attorney, claimed that Megan Thee Stallion’s insult of Mr. Lanez’s artistic status drove him to insanity and that she had been hesitant to come forward following the upsetting incident. Megan did summon the fortitude to appear before the jury and inform them of what the accused had done to her, Mr. Bott said. Was Megan being truthful? Everyone in the courtroom, in my opinion, is aware of the answer to that query.

Hold him accountable for shooting the victim for no other reason than to bruise his ego; the attorney continued Mr. Lanez. Insinuating that Ms. Harris might have been prompted to shoot her friend out of jealousy after learning that Mr. Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion had been having an intimate relationship behind her back, Mr. Lanez’s defense team contended that the two women were fighting that night over the male rapper.

According to Mr. Lanez’s attorney George Mgdesyan, the prosecution’s case is “full of gaps and supposition,” and the case “was about jealousy and a sexual relationship,” he claimed. He told the jury that Megan Thee Stallion “lied about everything in this case.” Most witnesses claimed that they saw Mr. Lanez holding a gun. However, others gave conflicting descriptions of the incident during the trial.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Ms. Harris, who was given immunity in exchange for her testimony, denied firing the gun or accepting hush money from Mr. Lanez. On the witness stand, however, she also recanted her earlier testimony to the police in which she named Mr. Lanez as the gunman, claiming that she was too drunk to see who shot Megan Thee Stallion. The judge then gave the prosecution permission to play the 80-minute detective interview from September in which Ms. Harris accused Mr. Lanez.

The text message, which read “Help” and “Tory shot Meg,” was sent by Ms. Harris to Megan Thee Stallion’s bodyguard the night of the incident. (In response to her contradictory statements, Ms. Harris claimed she could not recall what she had said before and had not always been truthful with prosecutors.)

Another witness who witnessed the incident from a nearby house’s window described it as a violent, chaotic brawl, with the first “flashes” coming from a woman, which he initially mistook for fireworks because he didn’t see any firearms. However, the witness also stated that he observed a short man,

According to Rolling Stone, Mr. Lanez reportedly “shot everywhere” four or five times. Although DNA evidence linking Mr. Lanez to the weapon was inconclusive, experts testified that gunshot residue was discovered on both Mr. Lanez and Ms. Harris, who were near each other. (Ms. Harris was not subject to a DNA sample collection by the police.) Before the trial, the case had been discussed on social media, gossip websites, and in music that both rappers had put out.

After working with Beyoncé not long before the shooting, Megan Thee Stallion, who went on to win three Grammy Awards in 2021, including best new artist, was first reserved about what had happened. In his closing remarks, Mr. Bott, the deputy district attorney, said, “Look what coming forward has done to her life, reputation, and profession.” He occasionally raised his voice for emphasis. Do you believe she desires to be here?

The rapper said that because of the heightened racial tensions following the death of George Floyd, she chose not to notify police officers that she had been shot that night in July, stating instead that she had trodden on glass. She remarked, “I didn’t want to see anyone die. I didn’t want to pass away. Her career was another concern for her. The rapper said, “I didn’t want to talk to the officers because I didn’t want to be a snitch. She described the hip-hop scene as a males’ club where “snitching is frowned upon.”

The Los Angeles district attorney, George Gascón, praised Megan Thee Stallion for her “bravery” in court in a statement following the judgment. He added that despite numerous horrifying attacks you did not deserve, you showed tremendous courage and vulnerability in your testimony. Because they are frequently disbelieved, women, especially Black women, are scared to disclose crimes like assault and sexual violence.

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Mr. Lanez was first detained and faced charges of hiding a gun in the car. However, over the course of the days and weeks that followed, Megan Thee Stallion admitted online and in a police interview that she had been shot, eventually identifying Mr. Lanez as the person who had attacked her. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office accused Mr. Lanez of assault that October.

Even still, some doubters and conspiracy theorists have questioned Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting since the incident occurred. A surgeon stated during the trial that he had removed gunshot fragments from both of the rapper’s feet, but X-rays submitted in court revealed that there were still minute particles remaining.
Although he released an album just two months after the incident, Mr. Lanez, who elected not to testify in his defense, has not provided details of his version of events.

Instead, he has focused on their relationship. We both know what occurred that evening and what I did, he rapped, “But it ain’t what they sayin’.” Later, Megan Thee Stallion addressed the incident in her song, “Shots Fired,” in which she appeared to describe both the events leading up to the shooting and its immediate aftermath. “He talkin’ ’bout his followers, dollars,” she raps, “and I told him, ‘You’re not poppin’, you just on the remix. (You offered M’s not to talk; I suppose that delighted my pal; hmm/now y’all in cahoots.)

Megan Thee Stallion testified that she initially lied about the nature of her contact with Mr. Lanez because it was “disgusting,” including in a television interview with Gayle King. “How could I give someone who could shoot me my body?” Even as her career took off, she said in court that the assault had made her “lose my confidence, lose my friends, and lose myself.” “I wanted him to shoot me dead,” the victim said.