On Tuesday, a Los Angeles judge denied motion for a new trail from lawyers for rapper Tory Lanez, who was convicted of three felonies in December for shooting and injuring the foot of hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion.
A sentencing date has not been set, but Judge David Herriford of the Superior Court of Los Angeles indicated during a hearing on April 17 that Lanez would be sentenced within 30 days of the decision on the motion for a new trial.
It was said that Judge Herriford rejected arguments from lawyers for Lanez that evidence was wrongly admitted at the trial, stating that the exclusion of the disputed evidence would not have made a difference at the trial.
Sources say that initiating a motion for a new trial with the same judge is a common precursor to appealing to a higher court, which Lanez’s attorneys plan to do. However, the motions are rarely successful.
Lanez, 30, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, will now be sentenced for convictions of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. The rapper is facing up to 22 years and 8 months in prison.
Lanez, who chose not to take the witness stand, pleaded not guilty during the trial and his defense team argued that he was not the shooter.
The shooting, and the trial, set off a storm of cultural issues and arguments that peaked during the trial, including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, the protection of Black women, gender politics in hip-hop, and online toxicity.
Megan Pete, known by her stage name Megan Thee Stallion broke her silence in an interview for 2023 Elle Magazine, “I don’t want to call myself a victim…As I reflect on the past three years, I view myself as a survivor, because I have truly survived the unimaginable. Not only did I survive being shot by someone I trusted and considered a close friend, but I overcame the public humiliation of having my name and reputation dragged through the mud by that individual for the entire world to see.”
