LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper Tory Lanez is expected to be sentenced Tuesday for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot three years ago, who the star says has struggled emotionally ever since.
“Since I was savagely shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta during Monday’s all-day hearing. “Slowly but surely I am healing and coming back, but I will never be the same again.”
The hip-hop star, who testified at the trial, said she struggled with whether she would appear to make the statement in person, but said she “just couldn’t bring me to be in a room with Tory again.” ‘.
She asked that her absence not be taken as a sign of indifference and urged Judge David Herriford to pass a severe sentence.
The judge was expected to convict Lanez on Monday in a hearing that can often only last a few hours, but the proceedings turned into a two-day marathon after Herriford had lawyers for the two sides argue for every part of his possible sentence . The judge also allowed seven witnesses, including Lanez’s father and the mother of his 6-year-old son, to testify about Lanez’s charitable giving, his childhood trauma and his loving parenting.
Prosecutors are asking a judge to impose a 13-year prison sentence on 31-year-old Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson. Lanez was convicted of three felonies: assault with a semi-automatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and firing a firearm with gross negligence.
Lawyers for Lanez said in a sentencing memo that he should only be placed on probation and released from prison to participate in a residential substance abuse program. They plan to appeal his conviction.
Several issues remain to be discussed and decided before sentencing, meaning Lanez is unlikely to learn his fate until Tuesday afternoon.
Megan testified at trial that Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and called her to dance as she walked away from an SUV they had been driving in the summer of 2020. The pair had a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood abandoned Hills home.
