Tory Lanez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion, the Associated Press reports. He faced up to 22 years and 8 months for three felony convictions handed down last December: assault with a semiautomatic handgun, carrying a concealed gun in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm in a negligent manner. Prosecutors had requested a 13-year sentence, noting that under California law he would not be forced to serve his entire sentence. “Sometimes good people do bad things,” Judge David Herriford said in Los Angeles Superior Court after reviewing two days of testimony. “Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”
While he chose not to testify at trial, Lanez did testify on the second day of his sentencing, asking the judge not to send him to prison. “Everything I did wrong that night, I take full responsibility for,” he said. Lanez still maintains his innocence; after his conviction, his then-attorney George Mgdesyan maintained they would explore “all options including an appeal.” He’ll receive 10 months credit for time served at the Los Angeles County Jail since his conviction in December.
On the first day of the hearing, a statement by Megan Thee Stallion was read. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” the statement read. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.” She added that she “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again” and urged the judge to issue a stiff sentence.
Others gave statements in support of Lanez, speaking to his history of charitable giving and his life as a father. A chaplain recounted how Lanez hosted a daily prayer on his floor at the county jail. The rapper’s lawyers sought probation and treatment in a residential substance abuse program in lieu of jail time. Iggy Azalea wrote a letter seeking a “transformative, not life-destroying” sentence for Lanez; she later clarified that her letter was an example of her prison reform advocacy.
Tory Lanez was found guilty at trial in December 2022. In the opening arguments, a deputy district attorney from Los Angeles County had established a timeline of events based on Megan Thee Stallion’s testimony and the surrounding evidence: In July 2020, Lanez shot Megan during an argument after a party at Kylie Jenner’s house. Shortly after Megan left the SUV they were inside, Lanez shot her feet; the bullet wounds left her hospitalized and unable to walk for several days.
