Daystart Peterson, the Canadian rapper known as Tory Lanez, was found guilty on Friday of shooting fellow artist Megan Thee Stallion in both her feet following an argument in the summer of 2020.
Mr. Lanez, 30, was convicted of three felonies, assault with a semiautomatic handgun, carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He faces more than 20 years in prison and could be deported.
The jury deliberated for around seven hours over two days, following a nearly-two week trial. Upon conviction, Mr. Lanez was immediately taken into custody and sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2023.
Megan Thee Stallion was not present in the court as the verdict was read, while Mr. Lanez appeared motionless until his father stood up and began shouting at the judge and prosecutors. Bailiffs moved to block his path as he declared “God will judge you.”
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Megan Thee Stallion, said in a statement: “The jury got it right. I am thankful there is justice for Meg.”
The case was closely watched for both its celebrity participants and what it did or didn’t say in relation to how Black women (famous or otherwise) and famous men accused of abuse, such as Johnny Depp and Harvey Weinstein, are treated in the eyes of the law and in the public sphere.
Mr. Lanez actually saw his fame increase after the shooting, while he earned support both implied and explicit from various corners of the hip-hop universe.
Mr. Lanez’s defense had raised the possibility of another shooter, a friend of the victim who was also involved in the argument. The incident occurred on the way home from a gathering at the home of Kylie Jenner.
However, Megan Thee Stallion identified Mr. Lanez as her assailant in court, recounting how he had shouted “dance” and a sexist slur at her before firing several times from the passenger seat of a sport utility vehicle. She testified that Mr. Lanez had then apologized and offered her and the friend, Kesley Harris, $1 million each to keep the incident quiet.
“Megan did find the courage to come and tell you what the defendant did to her,” deputy district attorney Alexander Bott in his closing statement to the jury. “Was Megan telling the truth? I think everyone in the courtroom knows the answer to that question.”
The lawyer asked the jury to hold (Mr. Lanez) accountable for “shooting the victim for nothing more than a bruised ego.”
Mr. Lanez’s defense team argued that the two women were fighting that night over the male rapper, implying that Ms. Harris might have been motivated to shoot her friend out of jealousy.
George Mgdesyan, an attorney for Mr. Lanez, stated that the case “was about jealousy and a sexual relationship.” He called the prosecution’s case “full of holes and speculation.” He declared to jurors that Megan Thee Stallion “lied about everything in this case.”
Ahead of the trial, the case had played out on social media, gossip sites and in music released by both rappers.
In the years between the incident and yesterday’s conviction, skeptics and conspiracy theorists have questioned whether Megan Thee Stallion was even shot at all. At trial, a surgeon testified to removing bullet fragments from both of the rapper’s feet, with X-rays presented in court showing tiny fragments that remained.
Mr. Lanez, who opted not to testify in his own defense, has not given his account of events, though he released an album barely two months after the encounter in which he denied shooting Megan Thee Stallion, focusing instead on their personal relationship.
“We both know what happened that night and what I did/But it ain’t what they sayin’,” he rapped.
Megan Thee Stallion later responded in her own track, titled “Shots Fired,” in which she seemed to recount what led to the shooting.
“He talkin’ ’bout his followers, dollars,” she raps, adding, “I told him, ‘You’re not poppin’, you just on the remix’” — as well as its aftermath.
“You offered M’s not to talk, I guess that made my friend excited, hmm/now y’all in cahoots.”
Even as her career skyrocketed in the intervening years — beyond musical success, she has guest-hosted both “The Tonight Show” and “Saturday Night Live” while cameoing on Disney+’s “She-Hulk” show — the assault had caused her to “lose my confidence, lose my friends, lose myself,” she said in court.
“I wish he had just shot and killed me.”
