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Jury deliberations have begun in the trial of Tory Lanez, who faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted of shooting his former lover and fellow hip hop star, Megan Thee Stallion.
Judge David Herriford sent the panel of seven women and five men into the jury room shortly after the prosecution and defense concluded their closing arguments Thursday afternoon.
The jury is now ready to decide Lanez’s fate and will need to reach a unanimous decision to reach a guilty verdict on any of the three counts he faces.
Lanez, wearing a pink suit and white turtleneck, arrived at the criminal court in downtown Los Angeles with her 5-year-old son Kai, who was seen attending the proceedings with his father earlier in the trial.
The 30-year-old singer has pleaded not guilty to three felony charges, including assaulting Megan with a semi-automatic firearm, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Lanez, wearing a pink suit and white turtleneck, arrived at the criminal court in downtown Los Angeles with her 5-year-old son Kai, who was seen attending the proceedings with his father earlier in the trial.
Megan Thee Stallion shared photos of the injuries she sustained to her foot after Tory Lanez allegedly shot her
He faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted of all three felonies, plus possible deportation from the United States.
Assault carries a penalty of up to nine years in prison; the shooting with gross negligence charge up to three years, and the concealed weapon charge up to three years.
But if the jury also finds that Lanez caused “serious bodily harm” (Megan had three bullet fragments surgically removed from her feet), both offenses carry heavier penalties that could add up to six years to her sentence for each assault and shooting with profanity. . negligence charges.
In her testimony last week, Megan, 27, told jurors the incident occurred after she and Lanez attended a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home on July 12, 2020.
She said the two were leaving in their truck with Megan’s assistant and best friend, Kelsey Harris, when an argument broke out and she asked the driver, Jaquan Smith, to pull over.
Megan, whose real name is Megan Pete, said that when she got out of the car, Lanez allegedly yelled: ‘Dance b***h’, and fired several shots at her, injuring her feet so badly that she required surgery.
She also testified that Lanez offered her and Harris a million dollars to keep quiet about the shooting.
Lanez, who is out on $350,000 bail, later apologized to her and said he was drunk at the time of the shooting.
Her defense team has been pushing the theory that it was not Lanez but Harris who fired the gun in a fit of jealousy and anger at Megan when she discovered the singer had “stabbed her in the back” by sleeping with Lanez, whom Kelsey had also been. involved with.
Video footage showed the moments after the July 12, 2020 shooting, with Lanez and Thee Stallion, and a third person lying on the ground as authorities arrive.
The defense has been pushing the theory that it was not Lanez but Megan’s assistant and friend Kelsey Harris (pictured arriving at court on December 15) who fired the gun in a fit of jealousy and anger at Megan.
Lanez’s lawyer, George Mgdesyan, who called Megan a “liar,” accused the prosecution of “trying to dirty my client and make him look like a bad guy … a black hip-hop rapper.”
“They ask you to come to a conclusion, to prosecute a black man. The story fits better if it’s about a black man who shoots a black woman… But Kelsey is the one who shot her friend.’
Asked why the lead investigator in the case only took DNA from Lanez and not from the other passengers in the car, Mgdesyan said: “Because he’s the celebrity.” This is Tory Lanez.
The prosecution wants you to trust Megan, who lied to you, or Kelsey, who took Fifth.
‘Why would Megan lie?’ Mgdesyan asked earlier.
“Megan and Tory are both artists. Which is more interesting, Kelsey Harris shot you or Tory Lanez shot you?”
‘Megan has an image: it’s Megan Thee Stallion. Kelsey found out that her best friend was cheating on her with her man and shot her. What would that look like for Megan Thee Stallion?’
He also reminded the jury of Sean Kelly’s testimony in which he told the court that he saw Harris stop fighting Megan and return to the van before the shots erupted.
In her testimony last week, Megan, 27, told a jury of seven women and five men that she and Lanez were leaving a pool party on July 12, 2020, at Kylie Jenner’s home when an argument broke out. . The two women appear together during an Instagram Live the night of the shooting.
Megan had initially denied having a romantic relationship with Lanez. The rapper, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted. The two are shown in 2020.
Mgdesyan said: “The evidence is pretty clear that the gun was in Kelsey’s bag.”
Calling the prosecution’s case ‘full of holes’, he continued: ‘My client deliberately failed to talk about the gun and fired the gun. That’s why his DNA isn’t on the gun.
‘There is no evidence that my client discharged a firearm.
“My client was holding Kelsey’s hand to try to stop her from shooting Megan… She was trying to save Megan.”
Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta scoffed at the defense’s position that Kelsey shot Megan in a rage because of her romantic rivalry for Lanez.
Instead, he told the jury that Lanez shot Megan in an angry clash of egos over the musical talents of the two rappers.
“It is the defendant who is on trial, not Megan,” Ta told the court in his rebuttal to the defense’s closing arguments.
The defendant had a bruised ego because Megan was more successful than he was.
“She was disrespecting him as a rapper and it pissed him off. How dare she have the audacity to disrespect her, then get out of the car and walk away from him?
“So he reasserted his dominance.”