Rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet in the Hollywood Hills just over three years ago.
Judge David Herriford of the Los Angeles Superior Court handed down the sentence after prosecutors had sought a 13-year sentence in state prison while defense attorneys lobbied for their client to be granted probation.
The 31-year-old Canadian star was found guilty on December 23 of felony assault with a semi-automatic firearm, carrying an unregistered loaded firearm in a vehicle and gross negligence in firing a firearm. .
Lanez has been behind bars since he was ordered to jail shortly after the jury’s verdict was read.
“Since the defendant viciously shot me, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by Los Angeles County Assistant Attorney Kathy Ta during Monday’s all-day session. day. “Slowly but surely, I am healing and coming back, but I will never be the same again.”
The hip-hop star, who testified during the trial, said he didn’t know if he would appear to give the statement in person, but said he “just couldn’t be in a room with Tory again.”
He asked that his absence not be taken as a sign of indifference and urged Judge David Herriford to hand down a harsh sentence.
The judge was expected to sentence Lanez on Monday in a hearing that can often last just a couple of hours, but the process turned into a marathon two-day session after Herriford had lawyers for the two sides argue each other. factor into your possible sentence. The judge also allowed seven witnesses, including Lanez’s father and the mother of her 6-year-old son, to testify about Lanez’s charitable giving, her childhood trauma and her loving upbringing.
Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Lanez, 31, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, to 13 years. Lanez was convicted of three felonies: assault with a semi-automatic firearm, having an unregistered loaded firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Lanez’s attorneys said in a sentencing memo that he should only receive probation and release from jail to enter a residential substance abuse program. They plan to appeal his conviction.
Several issues remain to be discussed and decided before sentencing, meaning Lanez is unlikely to know his fate until Tuesday afternoon.
Megan testified during the trial that Lanez fired the gun into the back of her feet and yelled at her to dance as she drove away in an SUV they were traveling in in the summer of 2020. The couple had left a party at Kylie Jenner’s in hollywood hills.
