People vs. Daystar Peterson
Let’s be clear: The Tory Lanez alleged shooting of Megan Thee Stallion might be the most polarizing case in the history of Hip-Hop! It’s definitely the biggest he-said situation since Tupac accused Bad Boy of shooting at him in the studio in New York. Here, we’ll try to give updates from the Tory Lanez trial, while trying to be as unbiased as possible… but still acknowledging that it’s extremely hard to be unbiased with this case.
Backstory:
Tory Lanez is facing 22 years in prison, while facing 3 separate counts in Los Angeles court, all related to the July 2020 incident involving Megan Thee Stallion, Tory Lanez, Kelsey Harris and Tory’s bodyguard. Tory Lanez is the only person in the car that is facing charges.
Tory Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, was initially arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon. After he was indicted he was charged with assault with a semiautomatic handgun; carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and a third charge was announced the week before trial was to start: discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Lanez faces 22 years for the 2 initial indictment charges, an a potential 6 extra years for the 3rd charge of discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Lanez also faces deportation back to Canada if convicted.
It should be noted however that the third charge, seems like a hail mary from the prosecution. According to Tory’s lawyer, the charge would not be added if the state thought they had a solid case for the first two charges. They might be hoping to get him on the third charge if he is found innocent of the other two. That does make sense.
Legal context: The burden of proof is on the prosecution, led by district attorney Kathy Ta. Tory Lanez defense team has to provide reasonable doubt that he did not commit the crimes. Doubt can be shown by making it seem like someone else committed the crimes or by showing that he could not have committed the crimes for any reason.
The trial began on Monday December 12th with opening statements from the prosecution and the defense.
Day 1:
In their opening statements, we learned that Megan Thee Stallion, aka Megan Pete and the prosecution was claiming that Pete was shot by Tory Lanez because she said something about his music that he took offense to. Megan was planning to testify to seeing Tory Lanez shoot her, and her friend, Kelsey Harris, who was a passenger in the car on the night of the alleged shooting, was also going to testify to seeing Tory Lanez shoot Megan.
Prosecutors said Tory fired 5 rounds towards Megan. Prosecution also alleged that Tory sent a test message hours later, apologizing to Megan. The defense alleges that the messages alone don’t take int account the context of the message.
Tory Lanez defense seemed to be muddying the waters. The defense claimed that Megan had slept with Tory Lanez, rapper DaBaby and NBA player Ben Simmons, all of whom had also slept with Meg’s friend, Kelsey. And that essentially was motive for her to shoot Megan as well. The defense wasn’t saying that Megan was not shot, they seemed to be putting the shooting on Kelsey.
A jury of 8 women and 4 men would decide Tory Lanez fate from there.
Day 2:
Tory Lanez began bringing his son to trial, which many on social media deemed a tactic to help get him sympathy.
Megan Thee Stallion testified on the second day of the trial. Her testimony was damning.
Megan testified that she say Tory Lanez with the gun and she saw him shoot her. Before he shot her, he said, “dance bitch,” which had already been revealed prior to the trial.
She also said that she did not see Kelsey standing next to Tory. (Not to say that she wasn’t there, just that Meg didn’t see her)
Important to note that she did say that things were blurry and that it all happened so fast.
Megan cried on the stand and also said that she didn’t want to be there, and that she wished he had just killed her so she wouldn’t have to go through all of this. Meg went on to say that she had multiple surgeries to remove bullet fragments from her feet and that her left foot still suffers from numbness and lack of feeling.
“I didn’t want to talk to the officers because I didn’t want to be a snitch,” she testified.
In an interview with CBS’s Gayle King this year, Megan Thee Stallion said that she had not been intimate with Tory Lanez, but she did testify in court that they were.
Megan also testified that Tory offered her and her friend Kelsey $1 Million each not to tell on him. Tory allegedly told them that he already was on probation for a gun charge and could not go to jail for these charges.
Another big part of her testimony was explaining why she chose to initially not tell the cops that she had been shot. Instead she told them that she had stepped on glass. In fact, Megan didn’t allege that Tory shot her until October, nearly 3 months after the incident.
Megan explained on the stand, that she didn’t want to get a Black man killed. She considered the climate, just weeks after the George Floyd shooting and decided not to tell the cops what had happened, in an effort to protect a Black man.
Day 3: Kelsey Harris testifies
If Kelsey Harris got on the stand and said that she saw Daystar Peterson with the gun ans saw him shoot Megan Pete, this case would essentially be over. Instead, Kelsey Harris got on the stand and turned this case into the complete shit show that we all knew it was going into this.
We quickly learned that Kelsey had received immunity from the prosecution for her testimony, and that they didn’t plan on pursuing any charges against her, no matter what the outcome of this case against Tory.
Nonetheless, Kelsey asked to plead the 5th when asked specifically if Tory Lanez threatened to shoot her.
Additionally Kelsey admitted to lying in a September deposition with the prosecution, at which time she told them that she saw Lanez with the gun and saw him shoot Megan. That can’t be what the prosecution thought she would admit on the stand.
Much like Megan she admitted to not wanting to be there and not wanting to testify.
Social media noted that this might be behavior of someone who was paid $1 million to stay silent, but she didn’t admit on the stand to receiving any money from Lanez or of knowing anything about that allegation.
Kelsey also said that Megan was drunk and incoherent, which might leave doubt in Megan’s testimony and might make it clear that she does not believe the same thing as Megan.
Despite all the above testimony, Kelsey testified that she did not shoot Megan and that the idea that she did is completely ridiculous.
Day 4:
Maybe the most damaging evidence of the trial came from the prosecution today. And this is likely the reason they brought Kelsey to the stand, even if they weren’t sure she would be a reliable witness. The district attorney showed texts from Kelsey, which were sent the night of the shooting, which read:
“Help”
“Tory shot meg”
“911”
Mgdesyan asked Kelsey if anyone said “Dance, bitch” before the shooting, which Meg testified on Tuesday Tory said.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Kelsey said, in an “it’s so stupid” tone of voice.
“So, no,” she continued.— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 15, 2022
Prosecutors also played a lot of Kelsey’s testimony from her September interview. While technically the September testimony is not evidence for this trial, the prosecutor can use it to refresh her memory and help get the answers out of her that they might want.
The entire 80-minute testimony from Kelsey’s September interview will be played on the 5th day of court to show inconsistencies in her story.
“Has my client paid you anything?” Mgdesyan asked.
“No,” Kelsey answered.
Kelsey added: “I would actually like to make that very clear. I’ve seen some things” from Meg’s attorneys “and I’m tired of that line. So, no.”— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 15, 2022
Prosecutors also entered into evidence a screenshot of Tory Lanez commenting under a ShadeRoom post, replying to someone that suggested that Kelsey shot Megan. He replies: “That’s Not True” in the comment, which would suggest that he knew it wasn’t her, which messes up the case the defense has been trying to put up. This was introduced by LAPD Detective Warren Eberhardt.
Day 5:
The biggest thing about the case today is that the jury gets to hear the full interview from Kelsey with the prosecutors back in September.
Kelsey: “The way Tory was angling the gun, it wasn’t like straight, it was like, down, definitely in her direction”
She didn’t hear him say anything, she told prosecutors during the Sept. 14, 2022 interview that she largely disavowed during her live testimony this week
— Nancy Dillon (@Nancy__Dillon) December 16, 2022
Asked if it was in Meg’s direction, Kelsey said, “Definitely in her direction, yeah, definitely in her direction.” She described fearing for her life as Tory pulled on her hair and neck “because it was really hard.” Kelsey is doing all the talking – the DAs barely say anything.
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 16, 2022
We also learned that Kelsey’s husband, Darien Smith is a manager at the 1501 Label which Megan Thee Stallion is signed to. The same label she’s been battling in court with for the last couple of years.
Kelsey tells prosecutors about Meg, “As my best friend, she could have said something.”
“She left me in the hot seat…So I’m upset because she didn’t clear my name.” She laments that “people think I took hush money.”
“It’s not fair, because I didn’t betray her,” Kelsey says.— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 16, 2022
More on the “Dance Bitch” comment:
Expanding on the point about whether Tory actually said “Dance, bitch.” https://t.co/yBinNEL26h
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 17, 2022
Before the day was completely done, the defense called their first witness, a DNA expert.
Tory Lanez leaving today after jurors heard recording of Kelsey Harris’s Sept. interview w/prosecutors
Defense called their DNA expert out of order. He agreed with LAPD that DNA on gun inconclusive as to Tory but said would have expected conclusive for someone who fired 5x pic.twitter.com/PlNquWiXES
— Nancy Dillon (@Nancy__Dillon) December 17, 2022
The trial is expected to last 8 days, maybe more depending on if Tory Lanez decides to testify.
Photo Credit: Erik Voake / Stringer | Getty Images
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