According to NBC Canadian rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years after he was found guilty of shooting hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion in the foot after the pair left a Los Angeles party in 2020.
The hearing began Monday and wrapped Tuesday, ending a high-profile case that saw Megan, 28, subjected to what prosecutors called “repeated and grotesque attacks” and cast a spotlight on the scrutiny Black women face when reporting abuse.
Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, shot the three-time Grammy winner, whose legal name is Megan Pete, following a party at reality star and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home July 12, 2020.
Lanez, 31, had pleaded not guilty, but a jury found him guilty of three felony charges in December: assault with a semi-automatic firearm, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Lanez addressed the court before the judge handed down his sentence. He apologized for his actions and said he took full responsibility for the 2020 shooting.
“If I could change it, I would but I can’t,” he said. “Everything I did that night, I take full responsibility,” he added. “I truly am just trying to be a better person.”
Matthew Barhoma, a member of Lanez’s legal team, said they plan to file appeals for both the sentence and conviction.
The charges carried a maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months behind bars. Prosecutors asked for a 13-year sentence, noting in a sentencing memorandum that Lanez re-traumatized the “Savage” rapper with social media posts about the trial, that led his followers to target her.
He also faced possible deportation back to Canada.
“We’re nowhere near that yet,” Jose Baez, one of his attorneys, said about possible deportation.
In seeking a shorter sentence, his lawyers argued for probation and that he be released from jail to a residential substance abuse program. They claimed Lanez has alcohol abuse disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress from the unexpected death of his mother when he was 11-years-old.
Prosecutors said they were “skeptical” of those claims, which were not presented throughout the trail.
“This case has nothing to do with mental illness,” prosecutor Alex Bott said. “He shot Meghan because she bruised his ego.”
Lawyers for the defense countered that there is a clear thread between Lanez’s trauma and heavy alcohol use and his violent actions in 2020.
“Someone has to be severely off to shoot someone because of a bruised ego,” Baez said.
The judge said he was “disinclined” to allow those factors to influence his decision.
Lawyers for Lanez played a lengthy video showing footage of his charity work and family life, which Bott said looked more like an award for “man of the year” than “a misogynist and coward” convicted of shooting an innocent woman.
“Tory Lanez is not the victim in this story,” Bott told the court.
Read more here.
Twitter Reaction
I really believe Tory Lanez was a problem. Would of been top 5 he had a lot of power and a lot of people knew the influence he had. I don’t think he shot her I said what I said. #FreeTory #FreeToryLanez #Goat pic.twitter.com/72fywykh79
— Green610 (@green610_) August 8, 2023
And
https://twitter.com/runext480977/status/1689055018341511169?s=46&t=n4K8BT-jWAk2OOxlbK6XDw
And
Tory Lanez sentenced 10years in prison over something that’s clearly a set up but the real killer’s still roaming free. I see nothing but injustice #FreeTory pic.twitter.com/xE2TBB69Fv
— ✞???????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ᗯᗩ????ᗯᗩᖇᗪ✞???????? (@Lilgendwontmiss) August 8, 2023
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