Tory Lanez appeal denied for Megan Thee Stallion conviction

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LOS ANGELES – A California judge on Wednesday rejected rapper Tory Lanez's appeal of his conviction on charges that he shot Megan Thee Stallion with a gun.

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A three-judge panel of California's 2nd District Court of Appeal issued a ruling affirming the three-count conviction of Lanez, 33.

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In December 2022, Lanez was found guilty of three felonies: assault with a semi-automatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and using a firearm through gross negligence. His trial became a cultural phenomenon, thanks to the fame of its key participants and the discussions it raised about gender, race, hip-hop and online toxicity.

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Megan, whose real name is Megan Pete, testified that in July 2020, after they left a party at Kylie Jenner's Hollywood Hills home, Lanez shot her in the leg and yelled at her to dance as she walked away from the SUV they were riding in with two others

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She had bullet fragments on both legs that had to be surgically removed. Months later, she publicly identified Lanez as the man who fired the gun.

Lawyers for Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday's ruling. They can petition the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal.

“Daystar Peterson is innocent,” his lawyer Crystal Morgan told the judges at oral arguments on the appeal in August.

But the appeals court rejected all defense claims of errors by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford, who oversaw the trial.

Judge Anne H. Egerton, writing for the three appellate judges, said the trial judge could have allowed Meghan to answer questions about how she felt about testifying on the day she testified. Meghan said that when a woman makes allegations against a man, “people find it hard to believe you” and said that “I didn't want to say anything in the first place.”

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Egerton said the jury was correctly told that such responses could be used to assess credibility.

The ruling also upheld the judge's decision to allow the prosecution to play a recording of a previous interview with authorities by Kelsey Harris, a friend of Megan and Lanez who was with them at the time of the shooting.

“In court, to say that Harris was a reluctant witness would be an understatement,” Egerton writes. “To question after question, Harris answered that she didn’t remember, couldn’t remember, or didn’t know.”

Egerton wrote that the prosecution was properly allowed to play portions of the tape during the trial and use the entire interview as exhibits.

The court also said the trial judge could allow the jury to see an Instagram comment in which Lanez's account said “it's not true” in a post that said Harris shot Megan. Lanez's lawyers argued that it was impossible to know who actually made the comment and that it was damaging in several ways.

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Egerton wrote that “any mistake in acknowledging the Instagram post is harmless,” calling it a “minor issue in the case.”

And the justices rejected an argument that showing jurors a photo of Lanez shirtless and with tattoos caused racial and other prejudice.

Meghan's rep did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the decision.

Lanez is serving a 10-year sentence at the California Men's Colony near San Luis Obispo, California. He was transferred there after he was stabbed by an inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. An Instagram post on Lanez's account said he was stabbed 14 times and both of his lungs collapsed.

Canada's Lanez began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and their popularity has steadily grown, leading to major label albums, two of which have reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts.

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Megan Thee Stallion was already a rising star at the time of filming, and her fame has grown since then. She won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2021 and has hit No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 with her own song “Savage” featuring Beyoncé and a guest appearance on Cardi B's “WAP.”

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