Canadian Rapper Tory Lanez Headlines:
- Tory Lanez guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion
- The claim about Harris being the shooter is not appealing says the jurors.
- Megan gets justice while Tory was handcuffed and taken away.
Rapper, songwriter and song producer Daystar Peterson known as Tory Lanez shot American rapper and songwriter Megan Jovon Ruth Pete who is known as Megan Thee Stallion recently.
Tory Lanez Found Guilty on All Charges in the ongoing trial in Los Angeles on Friday. He shot her in the predawn hours of July 12, 2020, in both feet. The jury of Los Angeles convicted the singer for assaulting Megan with a semi-automatic firearm, causing a great bodily jury and discharging an unregistered weapon inside his SUV.
Megan’s attorney Alex Spiro said that he was thankful for being able to give her justice. District Attorney George Gascon said, “You showed incredible courage and vulnerability with your testimony despite repeated and grotesque attacks that you did not deserve. You faced unjust and despicable scrutiny that no woman should ever face and you have been an inspiration to others across LA County and the nation.” And also highlighted her bravery.
What did Magan Say during the Trial
It was a nine-day trial in which Megan explain how she tried escaping when the rapper screamed “Dance, b****!” while pointing a 9mm pistol at her. She said she was so shocked and scared and couldn’t believe he was shooting at me holding a gun and pointing at me.
Megan became popular because of her freestyling videos on Instagram. She released mixtapes Fever and Suga which made it to the top ten of Billboard 200. Her debut album was Good News (2020). She earned her number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 with her remix “Savage”. She has also won 3 Grammy awards and won the ‘New Best Artist’ award at the 63rd Grammy.
Tory did not say anything at the first guilty verdict but hung his head later while his father Sunstar Peterson screamed pointing at the two prosecutors “You two, you are wicked, you are evil” and was dragged out of the courtroom. Tory was then handcuffed and taken into custody immediately.
His defense lawyer said, “We are shocked by the verdict. There was not sufficient evidence to convict Mr. Peterson. We believe this case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. We will be exploring all options including an appeal.”
In the three hours of horrifying testimony Megan described the attack. She also said that she became complicit in covering up as she initially told the investigators that she stepped on glass and that was the reason for the bleeding. She explained that Peterson had apologized and begged her to keep quiet.
Because of this the defense lawyer Mgdesyan called her a liar and that she had fabricated the $1 million bribe allegation backing the statement by saying that he told her he was on probation which is not true. The defense lawyer argued that he was trying to wrestle to take the gun away from Megan’s now known best friend Kelsey Harris.
In response to the argument Jury said that, “Whether or not he’s on probation in 2020 doesn’t matter. What matters is that he told Megan he was on probation – because he was manipulating her,” Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta said in her final rebuttal before the jurors started their deliberations Thursday morning. “He tries to appeal to her sympathy. ‘I have a gun charge, I’m on probation, please don’t say anything.’ It’s a pattern of manipulation to get the witnesses to keep a lid on everything.”
During the trial Harris Megan’s best friend explained about the morning shooting scene and gave 80-minute recorded statement to the prosecutors. She said that she vividly recalled that Peterson shot Megan 5 times.
On Dec 14 she invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and asked for blanket immunity. The prosecutors granted her to use immunity but she could be charged with something based on other evidence.
She explained that she didn’t see Peterson fire but assumed while texting Megan’s bodyguard 5 minutes after shooting a message that read: “Help/Tory shot meg/911.”
She further refused Peterson’s claim and said it was ridiculous of him to claim she was the shooter. She said it was true that they were on their way to pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house when Tory sparked by name calling and revealing about his intimate relationship with Megan after being with Harris. But she also said that she was being judged and accused on social media on the basis of romantic rivalry and was blamed that she shot Megan which she said was not true.
Megan explained about how she had hard time recovering from after math of the attached and while she was still in the hospital, Peterson sent her an obvious apology that read: “Meg, I know u prolly never gone to talk to me again, but I genuinely want u to know I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. And i was just too drunk. Nonetheless, s*** should have never happened, and I can’t change what did. I just feel horrible. Cuz I genuinely just got too drunk.”
“It feels like every man that’s in a position of power in the music industry, even people who are not even rappers, they never cared about what my side of the story was. They immediately took the side of this man and have been giving me hell for the last going on three years,” Megan testified.
She also said that she has been facing threats and hate over social media about her relationship with Tory, “Because I was shot, I’ve been turned into some kind of villain, and he’s the victim. This has messed up my whole life,” she said, adding that she often gets “depressed” about the way she’s “being shamed” online.
The jury Ta argued that it didn’t appear appealing about the story that Harris pulled the trigger and is yet being saved by Megan, “He is a fellow rapper in the industry. He has the support of the boy’s club. It would have been easier for her to say, ‘My crazy assistant did this to me.’ It is much harder for her to come out against Tory,” Ta argued. “She had to think about it because she was concerned about what it would cost her, and it cost her a lot.”
The jurors further added that its not about the sex life but about the bruised ego of Peterson. “Women, especially Black women, are afraid to report crimes like assault and sexual violence because they are too often not believed,” said District Attorney Gascón. “This trial, for the second time this month (after the Harvey Weinstein conviction), highlighted the numerous ways that our society must do better for women.”
