COVERAGE SO FAR: Megan Thee Stallion discusses filming 2020
The Houston rapper said the shooting stemmed from an argument while getting ready to go home after a party at Kylie Jenner’s house, but the other three people in the car with her — including Lanez — weren’t.
LOS ANGELES – A judge on Wednesday ordered rapper Tory Lanez to be placed under electronic surveillance and house arrest until Friday while awaiting trial for allegedly shooting the feet of rapper Megan Thee Stallion in the Hollywood Hills.
FILE Tory Lanez. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Superior Court Judge David Herriford denied prosecutors’ request to hold the 30-year-old musician in custody without bail for an alleged assault on a man in Chicago last month.
The judge noted that prosecutors had argued in their motion that the defendant – real name Daystar Peterson – is a danger to society and has a pattern of defying court orders, while noting that the defense’s response belies it that there was insufficient evidence that even a battery had occurred.
Assistant District Attorney Alexander Bott asked the judge to hold the rapper in custody without bail while he awaits trial for assault with a semi-automatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, along with allegations that he personally used a firearm and caused serious bodily harm. His trial is expected to begin on November 28th.
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The prosecutor said Lanez “showed such blatant disregard for the court’s orders” by telling the judge that the defendant had previously violated court orders not to come closer than 100 yards to Megan Thee Stallion and news on social media published which appear to have been addressed to you. Bott told the judge the defendant allegedly punched a man “without warning” and knocked him to the ground in Chicago on Sept. 17.
The rapper’s attorney, Shawn Holley, countered that the Chicago incident was “mere allegations,” adding that “these allegations are disputed.” She noted that no case had been filed there.
“I’m not really sure that this court should do anything given the unproven allegations,” the defense attorney told the judge.
The judge ordered the rapper placed under electronic surveillance and house arrest between Friday and the next court date.
On April 5, Lanez spent about five hours in custody after the judge increased bail from $250,000 to $350,000 after agreeing with Assistant District Attorney Kathy Ta’s allegation that some of his social media posts apparently were messages to Megan Thee Stallion. The judge then ordered Lanez to stop publicly mentioning his fellow rapper.
During a preliminary hearing last year, Los Angeles Police Department detective Ryan Stogner testified that he spoke to Megan Thee Stallion and that she told him she heard Lanez say, “Dance, bitch,” before he shot her around 4:30 a.m. July 12, 2020, as the bikini-clad woman exited a Cadillac SUV for the second time that morning after an argument.
“Nobody heard ‘Dance, bitch’ except Megan?” defense attorney Shawn Holley asked under cross-examination.
“Right,” replied the detective.
The alleged victim, identified only as “Megan P.” in court and in the criminal complaint, said her feet “bled profusely” and that she fell to the ground and crawled to a nearby driveway, according to investigators.
She said a friend who had been in the vehicle ran up to her with Lanez afterwards and “strongly apologized for what he did” and offered to give her a ride home.
The detective said Megan Thee Stallion told police Lanez “offered her money” and asked them not to say anything, telling her he was on probation – something Stogner said he could never prove.
The vehicle was subsequently stopped by police officers who were responding to a call for a shootout, and she initially told officers and doctors that she had not been shot and that fragments of glass caused the injuries to her feet, according to the detective.
She told the detective that she was “extremely scared and embarrassed,” “terrified he might get in trouble,” and worried the police might shoot him, but was “genuine,” “visibly distraught,” and “crying.” , when she subsequently admitted that Lanez shot her, Stogner testified.
Some of the bullet fragments were later removed from the woman’s feet by an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but some remain inside her and she reported that she has ongoing physical therapy and has difficulty walking in some types of shoes, Sun the detective.
After his arrest, Lanez called the woman’s friend in jail while she waited at the hospital and “he continued to apologize for the incident” and explained that he was basically drunk, the investigating officer testified.
In an outburst from across the courtroom during the December 14 hearing, Lanez loudly asked how the detective could tell why he apologized during the call.
“Did he say anything about shooting on the jail call?” Holley asked the detective.
“No,” Stogner replied.
The injured woman, who was bleeding, and Lanez were among the four people in the SUV that was stopped about a mile from where gunfire was reported, according to LAPD Officer Sandra Cabral.
A handgun “warm to the touch” was discovered inside the vehicle, and four spent shells were subsequently found at the scene, Cabral testified.
In a video posted to Instagram Live after the shooting, Megan Thee Stallion said: “Tory shot me. You shot me and you have your publicist and your people are lying… Stop lying.”
She said police drove her to a hospital where she underwent surgery, adding she was “incredibly grateful to be alive”.
In an op-ed published in the New York Times, she wrote that she was “recently the victim of an act of violence by a man” and initially remained silent about what happened “out of fear for me and my friends.” “
“Even as a victim, I have faced skepticism and judgment,” she wrote. “The way people have publicly questioned and debated whether I played a role in my own violent assault proves that my fears of discussing what happened were sadly justified.”
The rapper, whose real name is Megan Pete, partly rose to fame through freestyling videos that were widely shared on Instagram. Her song “Savage” went viral on TikTok and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 2020, while her provocative collaboration with Cardi B on “WAP” brought her more exposure.
In a post on Twitter last year, Lanez wrote, “I have full faith in God to show that…love to all my fans and people who have remained loyal to me and know my heart…an accusation is not a conviction.”