In a courtroom that quickly shifted chaotically after a trial that burned with strain both cultural and personal, a Los Angeles jury on Friday decided rapper Tory Lanez guilty of three felonies in the 2020 shooting of hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion, which left her injured with bullet pieces in her feet and could send him to jail for more than 20 years.
Lanez, who was put in handcuffs and directed to prison while wearing a powder pink hide with fitting pants, displayed no observable reaction as the ruling was read.
But moments later after the jury was accompanied out, his father, Sunstar Peterson, jumped up and started screaming. “This wicked system stands judged before God almighty!” He shouted as aides locked in on him. He then told to the two prosecutors in the case and shout “You two are evil, evil people. You know exactly what you did.”
With significant effort, deputies grappled him from the courtroom, where he restarted to scream in the hallway.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for around a day and a half before sentencing the 30-year-old Canadian rapper, whose permitted name is Daystar Peterson, of attack with a semiautomatic firearm, having a laden, unlisted firearm in a car and removing a firearm with gross neglect. Along with disturbing aspects that jurors also found true, the calculations could conduct to up to 22 years in prison and exile when he’s sentenced on Jan. 25.
Three children, including Lanez’s son, were seated in the facade row of the courtroom while the judgment was read. A young girl cried and was embraced by Lanez’s stepmother, who was also weeping before she started shouting along with her spouse.
Others in the audience yelled agreement, and one woman screamed “we love you Tory” as he was conducted away.
Followers of both Megan and Lanez assembled outside the courthouse for most of the eight-day trial and stuffed the courtroom and the hallway. The scene was nervous at times but stayed mostly peaceful until the verdict was read.
Members of the media and public were pushed to remain in the courtroom for an irregular period of time after the hearing while the hall was cleared.
Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, attested during the trial that Lanez shot a pistol at the back of her feet and called for her to dance as she stepped away from an SUV in which they had been hanging in the Hollywood Hills in the summer of 2020. She said the two had gotten into a debate that got quite heated when she began offending his music.
She required surgery to remove bullet segments from her feet.
In closing arguments, prosecutors highlighted the courage it took for Megan to come along and the abuse the 27-year-old has faced for it. They said she had no motivation to tell anything but the facts.
After the judgment, District Attorney George Gascon applauded her for coming to this point.
Lanez’s lawyer alleged in his ending argument that the shots were actually fired by Megan’s then-best friend Kelsey Harris in a desirous conflict over Lanez, who attempted to prevent the shooting. The attorney, George Mgdesyan, argued Megan made a more sympathetic narrative by pinning the shooting on Lanez.