Rapper Tory Lanez gets 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion
Rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday, following his December conviction on three felony charges. Credit: Invision / AP / Scott Roth
A judge sentenced rapper Tory Lanez to 10 years in prison Tuesday for shooting and wounding hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford 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 Thee Stallion, born Megan Pete.
"Sometimes good people do bad things," Herriford said. "Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case."
Pete 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," Pete 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."
Rapper Tory Lanez performs at HOT 97 Summer Jam 2018 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Three years have passed since hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion was shot multiple times by rapper Lanez in Los Angeles following a summer pool party at the home of Kylie Jenner. On Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, Lanez is scheduled to be sentenced, following his December conviction on three felony charges. Credit: AP/Scott Roth
Lanez asked Herriford for mercy just before the judge delivered his sentence. Lanez requested either probation or a minimal prison sentence.
"If I could turn back the series of events that night and change them," I would, Lanez continued. "The victim was my friend. The victim is someone I still care for to this day."
He added, "Everything I did wrong that night, I take full responsibility for."
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