Tory Lanez found guilty in 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion
A Los Angeles jury on
Friday found rapper and singer Tory Lanez guilty of three charges related to
the July 2020 shooting of fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in the Hollywood
Hills, the Los Angeles County District Attorney told CNN.
Lanez had pleaded not guilty to assault with a
semiautomatic firearm, carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and
discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, according to prosecutors.
Megan accused Lanez of shooting her in the foot
after she exited a vehicle they had been riding in following an argument.
In her testimony during the trial, Megan said things were
tense in the car between her, Lanez, and her former friend and assistant,
Kelsey Harris, Billboard Magazine reports. The artist testified Lanez
wanted her to come clean with Harris about the fact that the two of them had
been intimate. But Billboard reports Megan was uncomfortable doing so because
she knew Harris had a crush on the Canadian singer and rapper.
“I started walking away
and I hear Tory yell, ‘Dance, b***h,” she tearfully testified, according to
Billboard. “I froze. I just felt shock. I felt hurt. I looked down at my feet
and I see all of this blood.”
Megan “showed incredible courage and vulnerability”
during her testimony “despite repeated and grotesque attacks,” LA County DA
George Gascón said in a statement to CNN following the verdict.
“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,” he said, in reference to Megan.
“Women, especially Black women, are afraid to report
crimes like assault and sexual violence because they are too often not
believed. This trial, for the second time this month, highlighted the numerous
ways that our society must do better for women,” Gascón added, referring to Harvey
Weinstein being found guilty of three out of seven charges on Monday.
He also thanked the jurors for “their time and thoughtful
deliberation.”
Lanez did not take the stand in his defense during the
nine-day trial.
The jury comprised of five men and seven women began
deliberating Thursday and a verdict was reached on Friday afternoon.
Lanez was taken out of the courtroom by bailiffs in
handcuffs after the verdict was read, according to CNN affiliate KCBS. He faces
a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison and possible deportation back to his
native Canada.
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