Court has found Tory Lanez guilty of assaulting Megan Thee Stallion, May face 20 years in prison
Last Friday in Los Angeles, a jury found rapper Tory Lanez guilty on all charges in the shooting of fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion. If convicted, Daystar Peterson (stage name Lanez) could be deported to Canada and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
The jury convicted 30-year-old Lanez guilty of negligent gun discharge, assault with a semiautomatic handgun, and possession of a firearm while committing a felony.
Attorney Alex Spiro told, “The jury got it right I am thankful there is justice for Meg.”
Megan Pete, better known as Megan Thee Stallion, testified that on July 12, 2020, after leaving a party in the Hollywood Hills, Lanez shot at her feet five times. She testified that Megan and Lanez had gotten into a heated dispute before the shooting, which escalated when they began criticising each other’s musical talents.
She said, “I feel like that really rubbed him the wrong way,” and The Associated Press reported that this was a direct quote. “He kept yelling and cursing.”
She claims that she stepped out of the car and started to walk away when Lanez leaned out and shot her in the back of the feet. She testified that he yelled “Dance, b——!” at one point. CBS Los Angeles said she got back in the car and was pulled over shortly after.
She claimed she had to have surgery to remove bullet fragments from her foot.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón published a statement shortly after the verdict was read, praising Megan Thee Stallion’s “bravery,” saying that she “showed incredible courage and vulnerability” with her testimony “despite repeated and grotesque attacks” that she “did not deserve.”
Black women in particular “are afraid to report crimes like assault and sexual violence because they are too often not believed,” Gascón added.
A lawyer representing Lanez, George Mgdesyan, called the conviction “disappointing” and said that his client’s legal team would “be looking at all required alternatives, including an appeal.
Megan claimed that Lanez, who was on probation at the time, had promised her $1 million to stay silent about the incident, but Lanez’s attorney refuted this.
In an interview with Gayle King, co-host of “CBS Mornings,” Megan Thee Stallion discussed the events leading up to the shooting and her reactions.
“The argument was with the two people in the back seat,” she explained. “So I asked the driver to pull the car over. Like, I’m done with this. And I should have stayed out of the car. Like, I should have not got back in the car. And they was like, ‘Megan, just get back in the car. We’re almost there.’ And, like, just, ‘Get back in.’ So I get back in the car. It’s… getting worse.”
Megan Thee Stallion claims that when the disagreement heated up, she got out of the car and that is when Lanez began shooting at her. She reported this to King.
Megan Thee Stallion explained to King, “So I get out of the car and it’s like everything happens so fast, “And all I hear is this man screaming. And he said, ‘Dance, b—-!’ And he started shooting. And I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ Like, he shot a couple of times. And I was so scared.”