LOS ANGELES – A state appeals court panel Wednesday upheld rapper Tory Lanez’s conviction for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet during a 2020 dispute in the Hollywood Hills.
Lanez, 33, was convicted in December 2022 of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He was sentenced in 2023 to 10 years in prison.
During the trial, Megan Thee Stallion testified that Lanez shot her during an argument on July 12, 2020, following a get-together at Kylie Jenner’s home. She said she had no doubt that Lanez fired the shots, and that he later offered her $1 million not to say anything. According to the singer, Lanez told her to “dance, bitch,” and then shot her in the feet.
Under cross-examination during the trial, the Grammy Award-winning singer — whose real name is Megan Pete — said she initially had no intention of talking about what had happened and “didn’t want to be a snitch,” but felt she had to “defend my name” when she saw that people were “making things up” and suggesting that she hadn’t been shot.
During the sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott said Lanez shot Megan Thee Stallion because she “bruised his ego.”
“The shooting was because of the argument in the car,” the prosecutor said, calling it an “act of misogyny” against her.
One of Lanez’s attorneys, Jose Baez, called that argument “nuts.” He said there was “no denying that alcohol was involved.”
“We’re talking about foolish, reckless behavior that could have been much worse …The intent was not to take someone’s life,” Baez said of the shooting.
Baez said Peterson “admittedly was highly intoxicated” the night of the shooting and didn’t even remember afterward what the topic of the argument was.
Last year, Megan Thee Stallion filed a request for a restraining order against Lanez, claiming he was orchestrating a harassment campaign against her from behind bars, conspiring with “bloggers” who post what she claims are defamatory statements about her on social media, questioning the veracity of her claims against Peterson and the evidence that was presented at his criminal trial.
A Los Angeles judge approved the restraining order request in January.
