Nearly eight months after Tory Lanez was found guilty of shooting and injuring fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in 2020, Lanez was sentenced on Tuesday to ten years in a California state prison.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford handed down the sentence just before 3:30 p.m. PT, as Lanez’s two-day sentencing hearing concluded.
“Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case,” Herriford said, according to the Associated Press.
Prosecutors had asked for 13 years, while defense attorneys requested probation for the 31-year-old Canadian rapper. Following his conviction on multiple assault and weapons charges in December, Lanez had faced up to 22 years and eight months in prison and deportation.
Related Story: Tory Lanez Denied Motion for New Trial After Conviction in Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
Before the sentence was handed down, the prosecution read a victim impact statement in court on Monday from Megan Thee Stallion. The “Savage” rapper urged the judge to give Lanez a lengthy sentence.
“Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” the 28-year-old rapper wrote in her statement. “He lied to anyone that would listen and paid bloggers to disseminate false information about the case on social media. He released music videos and songs to damage my character and continue his crusade.”
Meanwhile, Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, appeared in court and made an emotional appeal to the judge for leniency. The elder Peterson said his son had a difficult childhood after losing his mother at age 11, “but his music became his outlet.”
The hip-hop star, born Daystar Peterson, was found guilty on Dec. 23, 2022, and has remained in jail since then.
He was convicted on three felony counts — assault with a semiautomatic firearm; discharging a firearm with gross negligence; and carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle; along with the special allegation of using a firearm to inflict great bodily injury.
Lanez maintained his innocence throughout the case.
He was initially scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27, but the date was moved multiple times.
Related Story: Tory Lanez Writes Open Letter to Los Angeles County D.A. Trashing Prosecutors
The delays came after the rapper replaced his trial attorney George Mgdesyan with famed defense lawyer Jose Baez in January. Baez won an acquittal for Casey Anthony in her 2011 trial for killing her young daughter, Caylee Anthony.
Mgdesyan told Page Six in January that he was not fired. Instead, he said his departure was a mutual decision with Lanez because the rapper needed a lawyer who specializes in appeals.
“I’m a trial lawyer. I don’t have time for appeals,” Mgdesyan told the outlet.
The “It Doesn’t Matter” rapper’s new legal team filed a motion for a new trial in March, saying “the court erred on numerous questions of law.” The new defense team claimed prosecutors misrepresented DNA evidence in court, depriving Lanez of “a fair trial.” Baez additionally argued that Lanez’s trial attorney, George Mgdesyan, had “failed” his client.
In an April Instagram post that was addressed to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, Lanez blasted prosecutors and pleaded for a new trial.
“Today I take a stance as an innocent Black man, wrongfully convicted of a crime I did not commit,” the post said. “I’ve watched two district attorneys from your office by the names of Kathy Ta and Alex Bott unlawfully misuse their authority… I was completely robbed and deprived of a fair trial.”
The tactic did not work. Lanez’s motion for a new trial was denied on May 9, when Judge Herriford ruled he found “no error, prosecutorial misconduct or newly discovered evidence.”
Lanez was arrested after Megan Thee Stallion, real name Megan Pete, was shot in the feet when she left a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills on July 12, 2020. The shooting occurred after Megan and her former best friend, Kelsey Harris, got into an SUV with Lanez and his bodyguard, and a dispute erupted.
Related Story: Tory Lanez Requests New Trial, Claiming the ‘Court Erred’
Megan Thee Stallion took the stand in December. The Grammy-winning Houston rapper admitted that she had a non-exclusive sexual relationship with Lanez after previously denying in a national TV interview with Gayle King that the two had been intimate.
In court, the “Savage” rapper told jurors an argument broke out just before the shooting when Lanez blurted out in the SUV that he had a sexual relationship with the female rapper in front of Harris, who had a “crush” Lanez. Once he revealed he’d had sex with Megan, the argument escalated.
Megan got out of the SUV, at which point she said Lanez shot her in the feet. The “Hot Girl Summer” rapper said someone in the neighborhood called police about the shooting and there were helicopters flying over the SUV. Officers ordered everyone out of the vehicle, but she didn’t admit that she had been shot. “I said I stepped on glass,” she testified.
Megan told the court she didn’t want to snitch because “in the Black community, in my community, it’s not really acceptable to be cooperating with police officers.” After undergoing surgery, she reported the shooting a few days later.
Lanez’s trial lawyer told jurors Kelsey Harris was “the one who shot her friend.” He alleged Kelsey and Megan were love rivals competing for Lanez’s attention.
“Megan Pete is a liar. She has lied about everything in this case,” attorney George Mgdesyan said.
The jury of seven women and five men disagreed and found Lanez guilty.
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