MADRID, 9 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Los Angeles prosecutor’s office has sentenced Canadian rapper Tory Lanez to ten years in prison on Tuesday for shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020 in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood.
Lanez’s lawyer, José Báez, has subsequently stated that his client plans to appeal the sentence: “There are important issues that we have presented in our request for a new trial,” he indicated, referring to the lack of DNA evidence on the weapon used. .
For his part, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has criticized that the rapper has tried to silence and intimidate Stallion to prevent him from sharing his truth, while it has remained strong “despite the violence physical abuse, verbal attacks and attempts at public humiliation”.
“The fact that (Megan) is a successful artist has brought an important focus to the issue of violence against women,” said the prosecutor, who has indicated that many women are afraid to talk about their own experiences and that he hopes that it has inspired other women.
A Los Angeles court in December convicted the rapper, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, shooting with gross negligence, and carrying a loaded and unregistered handgun in a vehicle, despite that Lanez pleaded not guilty, reports the US television network CNN.
Stallion reported that the rapper shot him in the foot after getting out of the vehicle they were traveling in, where they had argued. Gascón then thanked the singer for her testimony and condemned the harassment and ridicule he suffered after defending her version.
“You showed incredible courage and vulnerability with your testimony despite repeated and grotesque attacks that you did not deserve,” the prosecutor said, adding that “women, especially black women, are afraid to report crimes such as assault and sexual violence because too often they are not believed.”
