Late last year, the Canadian rapper Tory Lanez was found guilty on all three counts related to his 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, was originally scheduled to be sentenced in January, but his lawyers repeatedly requested a new trial, a request that has now been officially denied by a Los Angeles judge, as Billboard reports.
Tory Lanez’s legal team submitted a motion for a new trial in March, claiming that Judge David Herriford committed numerous errors that led to a “miscarriage of justice,” including allowing the jury to view certain evidence that might have influenced the jury’s decision to convict Lanez. Herriford, however, supported the prosecution, who stated in their argument that the defendant’s brief “lacks substance” and is “full of colorful rhetoric and conclusory statements… The defendant has not cited a single instance of trial court error in his nearly 80-page response.
“Please don’t ruin my life,” Tory Lanez reportedly pleaded with the judge in court on Monday, pleading for the judge to consider a new trial. Maybe I’m your son. Perhaps I’m your brother. As a result of the judge’s decision to reject this motion, the sentencing phase can now get started. Lanez might serve more than 20 years in prison.