Los Angeles Superior Court has sentenced Canadian rapper, Tory Lanez, to 10 years in prison for shooting and wounding hip-hop superstar, Megan Thee Stallion.
The presiding judge, David Herriford, on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, handed down the sentence to the 31-year-old Lanez, who was convicted in December of three felonies – assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
The sentence brings an end to a dramatic trial that created a cultural firestorm in the hip-hop community, churning up issues including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, gender politics in hip-hop, online toxicity, protecting Black women and the ramifications of misogynoir, a particular brand of misogyny Black women experience.
Herriford said it was “difficult to reconcile” the kind, charitable person and good father many people described Lanez as being during the sentencing hearing with the person who fired the gun at Megan.
Herriford said: “Sometimes good people do bad things.
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“Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”
Megan testified that Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been riding in July 2020, after leaving a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home. She had to have surgery to remove bullet fragments.
“Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by a prosecutor on Monday.
“Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
Before the sentencing, Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, choked back tears as he talked about how the rapper’s mother died when he was 11, just days after she first showed symptoms of the rare blood disorder that would lead to her death.
“I don’t think anybody ever gets over that,” he said of their youngest child, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.
“But his music became his outlet.”
Lanez began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and saw a steady rise in popularity, moving on to major-label albums. His last two reached the top 10 on Billboard’s charts.
Megan Thee Stallion, now 28, was already a major rising star at the time of the shooting, and her prominence has surged since.
Born Megan Pete, she won a Grammy for best new artist in 2021, and she had No. 1 singles with “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, and as a guest on Cardi B’s “WAP.”
The elder Peterson, who is a Christian minister, was one of several people who gave statements on Lanez’s character and charitable giving — as did the mother of Lanez’s young son, who spoke in court about his qualities as a father.
Dozens more wrote letters to Herriford, including rapper Iggy Azalea, who asked the judge to hand down a sentence that was “transformative, not life-destroying.”
Herriford said Lanez’s son, who is about 6 years old, also sent in a handwritten letter, but the judge did not describe it further.
Lanez’s family and supporters have packed the courtroom; during the trial, they contended his prosecution was unjustly brought on by Megan and powerful figures in music.
After the verdict was read in December, Lanez’s father denounced the “wicked system” that led to his son’s conviction; on Monday, Sonstar Peterson apologized to Herriford for the outburst.
Lanez has been jailed since his conviction. A chaplain from Los Angeles County jail said Monday in court that Lanez has led daily prayer groups that have eased tensions in the protective custody unit where he has been held.
