Rapper Tory Lanez and his legal team have filed a motion for a new trial in relation to the 2020 shooting of fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
UPDATE: LA County Superior Court Judge David Herriford denied Tory Lanez’s motion for a new trial, according to reporter, Meghan Cuniff.
Tory Lanez new trial motion: Here’s what his lawyers are arguing
As reported by legal reporter Meghan Cuniff, Lanez’s lawyers, Jose Baez who successfully defended accused child killer Casey Anthony in 2011, and Matthew Barhoma, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford that the Say It rapper deserves a new trial because prosecutors were allowed to question him about some of his songs, if he testified.
Tory Lanez’s reply under a ‘Shade Room’ post about Megan’s shooting
The motion also argued that the LA County jury that convicted Lanez considered evidence that should not have been allowed, including a comment from Lanez’s Instagram account that said “that’s not true,” in reply to someone saying people were alleging that Megan’s now-former friend Kelsey Harris fired the shots that injured Megan’s feet on July 12, 2020.
The Instagram comment at the centre of Lanez’s motion for a new trial was written on September 25, 2020, in reply to a comment left on the Instagram page of gossip powerhouse The Shade Room, which has 28 million followers.
Lanez’s lawyers say the comment was written not by Lanez but by his social media manager, and prosecutors did not properly disclose ahead of the trial that they would be using the comment as evidence.
Their motion argues prosecutors “heavily overstated the value of the Instagram post” and also overinflated the inconclusive DNA evidence found on the gun used in the shooting.
Kelsey Harris’ incriminating 80-minute pretrial interview with prosecutors
The motion also argues prosecutors presented a false “history of criminality” for Lanez and were mistakenly allowed to play for the jury Harris’ entire 80-minute pre-trial interview with prosecutors.
It further argues prosecutors interfered with Lanez’s right to counsel by suggesting his original lawyer, Shawn Holley of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP, had tried to bribe Harris. Holley “stepped back” from representing Lanez 12 days before trial, then quit altogether mid-trial.
Tory’s Tupac-inspired AK-47 tattoo
Additionally, the motion argues Lanez’s tattoos should not have been shown to the jury because they are creative expressions, including one of an AK-47.
The motion says prosecutors highlighted the tattoo to imply Lanez has a propensity for guns when the tattoo actually is a “homage to his idol Tupac Shakur.”
“M. Shakur used his music and tattoos to discuss socio-political issues affecting the black community in the nineties,” according to the 84-page filing. “Yet, he, too, was misunderstood.”
Motions for new trials are not often granted, but the issues raised in them can preview the issues lawyers might raise with the California Court of Appeal, which is a different process altogether.
Megan Thee Stallion, Kelsey Harris, and Tory Lanez were leaving a gathering at reality star Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home when Megan exited the Escalade in a residential area and someone fired five rounds from a handgun.
Initially, Megan told police she had stepped on glass, but she underwent surgery to remove bullet fragments in one of her feet and was hospitalised overnight.
Four days later, she contacted investigators and said she had actually been shot by Lanez.
In December 2022, Lanez was convicted of felony assault with a semi-automatic firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and having a concealed and unregistered firearm in a vehicle.
Jurors also found that he caused Megan great bodily harm. The case has drawn significant interest in the hip-hop music industry and beyond since its inception.