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Tory Lanez hit with third felony charge in Megan Thee Stallion case – Rolling Stone

December 6, 2022

Tory Lanez has has been hit with a third felony charge as he awaits opening statements in his trial on allegations he shot Megan Thee Stallion in her feet more than two years ago.

Prosecutors added the new charge of grossly negligent discharge of a firearm on Monday, as part of ongoing jury selection in the case, rolling stone has learned.

Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, previously pleaded not guilty to one count of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He also faces a gun allegation that he personally inflicted serious bodily harm.

The new charge carries a six-year prison sentence and is still considered a deportable felony if jurors choose to convict him of negligence as opposed to the more serious assault count. (The Alone at the ball the interpreter is a Canadian citizen.) If convicted on all counts, Peterson still faces the same maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months. The new charge does not increase exposure because it relates to the same alleged conduct, so any related sentences would be concurrent.

Peterson, 30, is accused of pointing a 9mm semi-automatic handgun at Megan’s feet while shouting “Dance, bitch!” and the opening of fire in the pre-dawn hours of July 12, 2020.

Peterson and Megan were traveling in a Cadillac Escalade with Megan’s best friend Kelsey Harris and Peterson’s bodyguard when an argument drove Megan out of the vehicle on a dark residential street in the Hollywood Hills, according to testimony during Peterson’s preliminary hearing last year.

An LAPD detective testified that he was assigned to the case two days after the shooting and interviewed Megan, née Megan Pete, by telephone on July 16, 2020, and again on November 12, 2020. He said the “Savage” singer clearly identified Peterson as her attacker.

“As she got out of the vehicle, she heard Mr. Peterson shouting obscenities at her and he said, ‘Dance, bitch! And then he started shooting at him with a gun,” Det. Ryan Stogner testified.

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“(Megan) observed Mr. Peterson holding a gun and then she saw him start firing,” Stogner said. “Megan immediately felt pain in her feet, observed blood, fell to the ground, then crawled into an adjacent driveway of a residence…She described her wounds as bleeding profusely.”

He said Megan initially lied and told the police, saying she stepped on glass because she was afraid of the reaction of the officers.

“She said that at the time she was extremely scared and embarrassed, and due to the fact that she was friends with the defendant, she was afraid that he was in trouble, and she also expressed concern about the political climate. about the police and the shootings,” Stogner said. “She was concerned that there had been recent police shootings, and she described her concern about the possibility of the police shooting at the ‘accused since he had just committed a shooting.

Stogner said medical records from Cedars-Sinai Hospital confirmed that doctors found bullet fragments in both of Megan’s feet.

For her part, Harris hasn’t spoken publicly about the shooting, but her friendship with Megan has grown distant. She appeared under a subpoena from prosecutors at a previous hearing and is due to testify in the case.

At a motion hearing on Monday, new Tory defense attorney George Mgdesyan argued that prosecutors should not be allowed to mention in their opening statement that Peterson apologized to Harris during a jail call after the shooting. He said unless Harris testifies and lays the proper groundwork for the appeal, he should remain barred.

Los Angeles County Judge David Herriford said that as long as prosecutors have a good faith belief that Harris will testify, he would allow them to state what they think the evidence will show. He also said another witness might be able to lay the necessary groundwork. Regardless, prosecutors have confirmed that they expect Harris to testify.

The approximate content of the jail appeal was revealed during Peterson’s probable cause hearing last December. “The defendant continued to apologize for the incident that occurred. He told Kelsey he was drunk and he was sorry for what he had done,” Stogner said, adding that he personally reviewed the jail call allegedly made shortly after the shooting. .

In cross-examination last year, Stogner said Megan and Harris had been close friends for about seven years, but apparently “ended their friendship” shortly after the incident.

As she grilled Stogner in cross-examination, Peterson’s attorney at the time, Shawn Holley, claimed that “the argument in the car escalated” because Peterson claimed he and Megan had some sort of intimate relationship, and Harris got upset because she “had a romantic interest in Tory.

Holley then suggested Harris may have fired the gun, focusing on part of a statement from a third-party eyewitness who said he saw some of the incidents from his nearby balcony. The witness reportedly stated that it appeared to him that the muzzle flash was closest to the non-victim female at the time of the shot.

On Monday, prosecutors asked Judge Herriford to rule that if Peterson refused to testify, his attorneys should be barred from pursuing a “third-party defense of guilt” in which they could name another possible shooter. Assistant District Attorney Alexander Bott said the eyewitness statement on the balcony was all over the place and the witness firmly stated that he “doesn’t know who the shooter is.”

According to Bott, the man’s first statement claimed that “nine people got out of the car: five men and four women.” (There were only four people in the car.) The man also allegedly claimed at one point that he was woken by the gunfire and did not see the shooting, Bott said. to the court. “Every time he made a statement, the details changed,” Bott said. “He’s grossly unreliable.”

Judge Herriford said Monday that prosecutors should file a written motion on the matter before issuing a ruling.

Opening statements for the trial are scheduled to begin on December 12.