Tory Lanez sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

A judge sentenced Tory Lanez on Tuesday to 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty last year of shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.

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Lanez sentenced to 10 years in prison

Update 6:30 p.m. EDT Aug. 8: Rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty last year of shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford handed down the sentence to Lanez, 31, according to The Associated Press. Lanez was convicted in December of assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.

The charges carried a maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months behind bars, according to NBC News.

Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, has been behind bars since the guilty conviction, Rolling Stone reported.

Herriford said it was “difficult to reconcile” the kind, charitable person and good father characterized by witnesses defending Lanez with the person who shot Megan, the AP reported.

“Sometimes good people do bad things,” Herriford said. “Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”

-- Bob D’Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Original report: Prosecutors asked that Lanez get a 13-year sentence, writing in court records that he has shown a lack of remorse and pointing to incidents in which he violated court orders aimed at keeping Megan safe. Attorneys for Lanez asked a judge to sentence him to probation and allow him to enter a residential substance abuse program, USA Today reported.

Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, is facing a maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months, prosecutors said.

Jurors found the 31-year-old guilty of assault with an automatic firearm, carrying an unregistered loaded firearm in a vehicle and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence in December. His sentencing was initially scheduled for January, but the hearing was delayed after he got new attorneys and filed a motion seeking a new trial, The Washington Post reported. A judge declined his request for a new trial in May.

Authorities said Lanez shot Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete, in both feet after they got into an argument in an SUV early on July 12, 2020. In a victim impact statement read Monday by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta, Megan said she struggled to determine whether to appear in court to give her statement, The Associated Press reported. She decided against it because she said she “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again.”

“Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” she said, according to USA Today. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”

Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, became tearful in court on Monday as he described the death of his wife, Luella, when Lanez was 11, the AP reported.

“I don’t think anybody ever gets over that,” he said.

In a letter to the judge, rapper Iggy Azalea called for a “transformative, not life-destroying” sentence for Lanez, according to the Post. In a statement posted on social media, Azalea emphasized that Lanez “should be held accountable” but added that “the charges don’t warrant 5plus in prison.”

Megan had to undergo surgery after the July 2020 shooting. In an April feature in Elle magazine, she said she doesn’t consider herself a victim.

“As I reflect on the past three years, I view myself as a survivor, because I have truly survived the unimaginable,” she said. “Not only did I survive being shot by someone I trusted and considered a close friend, but I overcame the public humiliation of having my name and reputation dragged through the mud by that individual for the entire world to see.”

Megan was a rising star at the time of the shooting. In 2021, she won three Grammy Awards, including one for best new artist and two — best rap performance and best rap song — for her song “Savage” featuring Beyonce.

Lanez began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and saw some success, with his song “LUV” reaching No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016, the Post reported. That year, the tune earned him a Grammy nomination for best R&B song.