Rapper Tory Lanez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, months after he was convicted of shooting fellow rap artist Megan Thee Stallion (pictured). Image: via Wikimedia Commons
Canadian rapper Tory Lanez (born Daystar Peterson) has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, seven months after he was convicted of shooting and injuring fellow rap artist Megan Thee Stallion (born Megan Pete) at a party in July 2020.
Last December, a jury found Lanez guilty of carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle, assault with a semiautomatic handgun and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Megan Thee Stallion testified that Tory Lanez shot at her feet as she walked away from an argument which took place an SUV they had both been riding in, following a pool party at reality star Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills.
Megan was hospitalized as a result of the shooting and underwent surgery to remove bullet fragments lodged in her feet.
She remained in hospital for four days while undergoing physical therapy to allow her to walk again following the incident.
Megan did not appear at the sentence hearing, saying that she wished to give the statement in person but “simply could not bring [herself] to be in a room with Tory again”.
“Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said the statement, which was read by the court.
“He not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma. He tried to position himself as a victim and set out to destroy my character and my soul,” said Megan of Lanez.
“At first, he tried to deny the shooting ever happened. Then, he attempted to place the blame on my former best friend,” she continued. “In his tantrum of lies, he’s blamed the system, blamed the press and, as of late, he’s using his childhood trauma to shield himself and avoid culpability.”
This refers to a number of occasions where Lanez denied the shooting publicly, including on social media in his lyrics.
Over 70 letters were received by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford in support of Lanez, including one written by rapper Iggy Azalea, who asked that he received a sentence that was “transformative, not life-destroying”.
Judge Herriford said it was “difficult to reconcile” the picture painted of Lanez by his friends and family with the events of the shooting.
“Sometimes good people do bad things,” said Herriford in handing down the sentence.
“Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”
Jose Baez, the defense lawyer representing Lanez, said he believed the ten-year sentence handed to Lanez was unfairly harsh and that DNA evidence against Lanez fell short of industry standards.
“I have seen homicide case, other cases where there’s a death and the person still gets less than 10 years,” Baez said. “It’s just another example of somebody being punished for their celebrity status, someone being utilized as an example.”
District Attorney George Gascón, who prosecuted the case, commended Megan Thee Stallion for seeing the trial through in spite of the intense scrutiny and vitriol that accompanied it.
“Over the past three years, Mr. Peterson has engaged in a pattern of conduct that was intended to intimidate Ms. Pete and silence her truths from being heard,” Gascón said in a statement.
“Women, especially Black women, are afraid to report crimes like assault because they are too often not believed.”
