In new evidence in Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez’s high-profile case, Lanez’s legal team has unveiled new evidence that they claim could exonerate their client.
Considering Lanez’s December conviction for assault with a semiautomatic firearm, among other offenses, this most recent action is unexpected.
Megan Thee Stallion testified during last year’s assault trial against rapper Tory Lanez that she was still suffering from nerve damage from the gunshot she had taken in the aftermath of an argument and that she had received death threats on social media.
Prosecutors claimed that in July 2020, following a party in Los Angeles early in the morning, Mr. Lanez retaliated violently against Megan Thee Stallion for criticizing his rap skills. He fired shots in her direction as she left the car they had been riding in.
The defense denied that Mr. Lanez was the shooter, speculating that it might have been a different woman who was offended that the two rappers had shared intimate moments.
In the end, Mr. Lanez—real name: Daystar Peterson—was found guilty of three felonies, one of which included assault with a semiautomatic handgun. Following a two-day hearing and several months of delays, he received a 10-year prison sentence.
But now, with the submission of an affidavit by Tory Lanez’s driver, Jauquan Smith, claiming he did not witness who shot Megan Thee Stallion in the 2020 incident, the defense team is actively pursuing a new trial.
Smith claimed, according to the defense attorney, that he was denied the opportunity to testify during Lanez’s 2022 trial by the prosecution.
In response to the rapper’s habeas petition, the Attorney General’s Office explained his driver’s ‘supposed’ new evidence in the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.
The California Attorney General’s Office argues in the recent filing that Jauquan Smith’s testimony regarding seeing Megan’s friend Kelsey Harris holding the gun isn’t new evidence, citing previously unreleased remarks from Lanez’s trial attorney, George Mgdesyan.
According to Lanez’s petition, Smith’s admission that he saw Harris with the gun qualifies as fresh evidence, calling for a new trial. However, AG Keller claims that the “conclusory allegation” that “it was unknown until this time what Smith had witnessed and what he would have stated” is not backed up by any evidence.
With this latest twist, the saga is far from over, and fans and legal experts eagerly await further developments.
Will the case’s trajectory be altered by this new evidence?
Time will tell.
