Tory Lanez returned to a Los Angeles courtroom this week to find out if he’d be granted a new trial for shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
The Canadian rapper learned Tuesday, the answer is “motion denied.”
“The court finds no error, prosecutorial misconduct or newly discovered evidence,” Los Angeles Judge David Herriford said via City News Service.
The hearing lasted two days. On Monday, the rapper pleaded with the judge to grant him a new trial and not send him to prison for two decades.
“Please don’t rule on my life. I could be your son. I could be your brother,” Lanez said to the judge, who is Black.
A new sentencing date will be set later.
Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, is facing up to 22 years and eight months in state prison and deportation.
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The rapper was found guilty on Dec. 23, 2022, of assault with a semiautomatic firearm; discharging a firearm with gross negligence; and carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle; along with the special allegation of using a firearm to inflict great bodily injury.
He was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27. The date was then moved to Feb. 28, before being shifted to April 10, then April 17, and May 8.
The delays came after he replaced his attorney George Mgdesyan with famed defense lawyer Jose Baez in January. Baez won an acquittal for Casey Anthony in her 2011 trial for killing her young daughter, Caylee Anthony.
The “It Doesn’t Matter” rapper’s new legal team filed a motion in March saying “the court erred on numerous questions of law.”
The motion claimed jurors were “erroneously allowed” to view a September 2020 Instagram comment attributed to Lanez about the case. The motion blamed the rapper’s content creator for writing the comment on a post from The Shade Room.
The new defense team also claimed prosecutors misrepresented DNA evidence in court, depriving Lanez of “a fair trial.” The March filing stated, “The only acceptable remedy for this miscarriage of justice is a new trial.”
Related Story: Tory Lanez Apologized Profusely After Megan Thee Stallion Shooting, Prosecutor Says
With the motion denied, Baez is now waiting to find out how much time his client will spend in prison.
Lanez was arrested after Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, was shot in the feet after leaving a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills on July 12, 2020.
His original attorney claimed during the trial that Megan’s former friend Kelsey Harris fired the shots — which Kelsey and Megan both denied in court testimony. The defense claimed Kelsey was upset because Lanez had been sleeping with both women.
Prosecutors said a drunken Lanez got into an SUV with Megan and Kelsey. After a dispute broke out, he told Megan “dance b–ch,” before opening fire on her feet. Jurors agreed with the prosecution and found Lanez guilty.
The judge in the case recently lifted a gag order — which allowed Lanez to write an open letter on Instagram directed to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón on Instagram.
“Today I take a stance as an innocent Black man, wrongfully convicted of a crime I did not commit,” Lanez wrote in the post. “I’ve watched two district attorneys from your office by the names of Kathy Ta and Alex Bott unlawfully misuse their authority to hide and suppress any and all exculpatory evidence that exonerates me, or furthers my innocence. I was completely robbed and deprived of a fair trial.”
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Tory Lanez Denied New Trial in Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Case