Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison by a Los Angeles judge for the 2020 shooting death of Megan Thee Stallion, the New York Times reports.

The sentencing for Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was originally scheduled for February of this year, but his legal team filed a motion for a new trial in March that was ultimately denied. In the months since, Peterson’s sentencing date has been pushed back several times.

Prosecutors had sought a 13-year sentence and cited three violations of pretrial injunctions, telling the judge that Peterson was “engaging in a campaign to humiliate and repeat trauma. [Megan]His lawyers asked for a sentence of probation or three years in prison and wanted probation and mandatory rehabilitation, citing Peterson’s alcohol addiction and childhood trauma.

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Peterson’s legal team submitted letters of recommendation from family members, members and leaders of non-profit organizations, and even some of his colleagues in the music industry, including Iggy Azalea.

Peterson has been in jail without bail since a jury found him guilty on December 23 of three felony firearm counts for an incident that occurred on July 12, 2020, in which fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion (née real Megan Pete) allegedly shot him. her feet after leaving a party in the Hollywood Hills at Kylie Jenner’s house. After the verdict, Lanez stopped working with his trial attorney, George Mgdeysan, and recently appointed José Báez to assist in the case.

“He didn’t just shoot me, he mocked my trauma,” Pete said in a statement read out in court on August 7. “This is a statement to all survivors that their lives matter and that there is no tolerance for the torture that accompanies violence.”

The Canadian rapper was found guilty of felony assault with a semi-automatic firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm and carrying an unregistered loaded firearm in a vehicle. A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for two days after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense in a high-profile two-week trial, coinciding with the 2022 Christmas break.

The trial had several unexpected turns in the evidence and different interpretations of the hard evidence in the case. Pete sustained injuries to his legs, which he described to police at the scene as the result of broken glass, but later claimed that it was caused by shots fired by Peterson. A surgeon who operated on Pete after the exchange took the stand to confirm that he had removed bullet fragments from his legs.

Peterson has repeatedly denied being the one who shot Pete, and pleaded not guilty in November 2020. The trial began on December 12, 2022, with testimony from Pete himself, who claimed that Peterson shot him in an emotional fit on the attack. on the edge of the road. The defense argued that it was a case of jealousy between Pete and Kelsey Harris, his former friend and assistant, who is alleged to be close to Peterson.

Harris was described as a key witness for the prosecution, but on the stand she claimed that she did not see or remember the circumstances of the shooting due to her alcohol use that night and that she was dealing with anxiety and postpartum depression. Peterson’s lawyer, George Mgdesyan, said the events of those nights occurred because Pete and Harris had a heated drunken dispute over infidelity and because both allegedly slept with Peterson. Mdesyan also relied heavily on DNA evidence to argue that his client’s fingerprints were not found on the gun used to shoot Pete.

The case attracted public scrutiny and debate, and since neither side could agree on the facts, it was a polarized debate that largely led to Pete’s departure from the show.

In an essay penned by Pete for Elle, the Texas-born rapper reflected on the debacle, writing: “When the guilty verdict came down on December 23, 2022, it was more than a confirmation for me, it was a victory for all women . . who have ever been shamed, fired and blamed for a violent crime committed against them.”