A jury found rapper Tory Lanez guilty Friday of all charges in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion outside a party in Los Angeles.
The Grammy-winning rapper accused Lanez of shooting her in the leg after the pair left a party at Kylie Jenner’s house in 2020. Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson.The Stallion Edition event.
He was initially charged with assault with a semi-automatic weapon and loading a loaded, unregistered firearm into a vehicle. Prosecutors added a third charge to him earlier this month for firing a firearm with gross negligence. Lanez faces up to his 22 years and 8 months in prison. He could also face deportation to his native Canada after completing his prison term.
The jury reached a verdict after seven hours of deliberation. Lanez was taken into custody immediately after the verdict.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 27.
In a post-sentence statement, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon praised Megan Thee Stallion for her “courage.”
“You have shown incredible courage and vulnerability in your testimony despite repeated undeserved and grotesque attacks,” he said. “You have faced the unfair and despicable scrutiny women should never face and have inspired people across LA County and across the country.
Alex Spiro, Megan Thee Stallion’s attorney, said in a statement, “The jury has ruled right. We are grateful that Meg has justice.”
The incident began in July 2020, when police pulled over an SUV with two people and two others in the Hollywood Hills. Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Jobon Ruth Peet, testified that when asked why she was bleeding, she first told police she cut her leg on his glass.
She was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors found a bullet fragment in her leg that had to be surgically removed.
“I couldn’t walk for a while,” she testified. “I still have nerve damage. I can’t feel much on the side of my left foot. The bottom of my foot hurts all the time, but I just push it through.”
She posted on Instagram weeks after the incident that she was shot and eventually Identified Lanez as the shooterShe later took aim at him with the song “Shots Fired”.
In her testimony, Megan Thee Stallion said Lanez offered her $1 million for keeping quiet about the shooting.
and Interview with Gayle King in April.
“You think I’m going to tell the police that we…we black people have guns in our cars?” she asked. “Do you want the law to tell you that you had a gun in your car so you could shoot us all?”
Lanez refused to testify in defense. His attorney called a witness, Sean Kelly, who lived in the area, to tell the court that he had been awakened by two women fighting on the night of the shooting.
Kelly testified that she saw two women fighting. according to varietybut then saw multiple gunshots supposedly coming from a man “shooting all over the place,” he said.
Jurors also heard a tape of a September interview with Kelsey Harris, a former friend of Megan Thee Stallion.
Harris, who was also in the SUV, testified in court before the recording was played and said he could not recall many details of the shooting, but provided clear details of the night in an interview with prosecutors. It is reported.
In a taped interview, Harris said he heard the two discuss “artistry” and careers before the shooting. According to Rolling Stone. She said Lanez ordered the women out of the SUV and Megan Thee Stallion walked away when the first shot was fired.
“He’s firing through the door,” Harris told prosecutors. “(He was) leaning against the passenger door and shooting.”
the trial is garnered a lot of attention onlinemany Megan Thee Stallion fans have criticized the public attention given to the rapper’s sexual history. The day she stood up, thousands online used the hashtag #WeStandWithMegan to virtually support her.
In a tweet with over 48,000 likes, one user wrote, “Personally I wouldn’t mind if Megan slept with the whole city of Houston. Why was she shot? Is it?” he wrote.
Other celebrities have also spoken out about the incident online, including Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” collaborator Cardi B. She called her a “superstar” on Instagram Live.
“Why are you lying about being shot?” Cardi said. “Why?”
Not all online chatter endorses Megan Thee Stallion.rapper 50 cent tweeted earlier this month Megan Thee Stallion appears to be transformed into actor Jussie Smollett in a series of photos. I didn’t know if I should think about it,” he wrote.
smollett is with imprisonment and additional probation He was arrested in March after falsely reporting to police that he had been subjected to racist and homophobic attacks in 2019.
