Megan Thee Stallion is in the clear and will not have to return to court after a Los Angeles judge denied Tory Lanez’s request for a new trial, according to a new KABC report. The ruling, announced Tuesday, comes after the rapper was convicted of felony assault in the 2020 shooting of the Sweetest Pie star.
Lanez’s sentencing date has yet to be announced, but Judge David Herriford of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County denoted during an April 17 hearing that the Canadian rapper would be sentenced within 30 days of the decision on the motion for a new trial.
The news comes just one day after Lanez’s attorney requested a retrial. As the hearing ended, the 30-year-old entertainer pleaded with the judge to allow him a new trial.
“Your honor, please don’t ruin my life,” KABC reported he said as he exited the courtroom.
In court filings obtained by Rolling Stone last month, Lanez lawyers Jose Baez and Matthew Barhoma argued that the verdict was a “miscarriage of justice” and accused Judge David Herriford of making several errors during the closely monitored two-week trial in December.
The Conflicts of My Soul rapper’s legal team said that among other matters, the judge misled jurors with a key Instagram post, which relentlessly weakened the defendant’s central defense: that Megan Thee Stallion’s former friend and assistant Kelsey Harris may have been the one who shot the WAP star.
“The court erred on numerous questions of law in allowing the People to introduce this post, depriving defendant of a fair trial,” Lanez’s lawyers wrote in the motion. “The only acceptable remedy for this miscarriage of justice is a new trial.”
Born Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson, Lanez became a convicted felon in December after a Los Angles jury found him guilty on three counts of assault with a semiautomatic handgun, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
He faces more than 20 years in prison.
Jurors deliberated over the verdict for two days in the trial that lasted almost 14 days. The And This is Just The Intro star had been free on bail following being placed on house arrest.
“God will judge you,” Tory Lanez’s father shouted to the judge and jurors after the verdict was read. The 30-year-old rapper, born Daystar Peterson, appeared emotionless and looked ahead as he was taken into custody. Megan Thee Stallion was not present while the verdict was read.
