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A petition to pardon rapper Tory Lanez has received close to 100K signatures after his legal team recently revealed a new update regarding the 2020 shooting of fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion. During a press conference on May 14, Lanez's legal team claimed that Kelsey Harris' ex-bodyguard confirmed that Harris was behind the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
For the unversed, Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years for shooting the Hiss rapper (whose real name is Megan Pete) in the foot. The shooting reportedly occurred following an argument between the two while returning from Kylie Jenner's Hollywood Hills party in July 2020.
Kelsey Harris, a former friend of Megan Thee Stallion, had reportedly been in the car with the duo when the incident occurred. According to Variety, she was the key witness in Lanez's 2022 trial. However, she refused to answer many questions regarding the incident, repeatedly invoking her Fifth Amendment Rights.
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Lanez, who began his prison sentence in 2023, was reportedly stabbed 14 times by a fellow inmate on May 12. On May 14, Lanez's legal team held a press conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles to update people about the Canadian rapper's health condition.
During the press conference, they also revealed that Bradley James, Kelsey Harris' former bodyguard, had approached them with new information regarding the 2020 shooting. In his affidavit, James alleged that he overheard Harris on the phone admitting that she was the person who shot at Megan Thee Stallion and not Tory Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson.
Following this, a Change.org petition to "Pardon Tory Lanez: Urge Governor Newsom to Correct a Deep Injustice" received thousands of signatures in the rapper's favor. As of this article, the petition has 96877 signatures, with more people signing in support of Lanez.
The petition's description claimed that Tory Lanez's trial, held in 2022, was allegedly marred by "overwhelming evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, missing forensic data, and politically motivated sentencing." It also mentioned the affidavit Bradley James allegedly signed that absolved Lanez of the shooting, writing:
"Among the newly presented claims, Lanez’s legal team cites a sworn affidavit from a bodyguard stating that Harris allegedly admitted to firing the gun into the air before Lanez intervened."
Tory Lanez's lawyers advocate for his pardon
During the press conference on May 14, Tory Lanez's legal team asked that the rapper be pardoned in light of his recent attack and the new evidence. If a pardon was out of the question, they asked that his 10-year sentence be commuted.
Walter Roberts, an attorney from United The People, elaborated on what Bradley James alleged in his signed affidavit, which claimed that Harris shot Megan Thee Stallion three times. Tory Lanez then allegedly tried to take the gun out of Harris' hands and knocked it down, causing it to fire two more times.
“[Harris] fired at [Megan] three times. Mr. Peterson grabbed her arm and knocked it down, and the gun fired two more times. In essence, Mr. Peterson never shot anybody. Never even touched that gun. He never fired the gun," he said.
He continued that this allegedly matched the statement provided by Sean Kelly, a non-party witness to the case, saying:
"This statement aligns with the statement of the only non-party witness to the case, Mr. Sean Kelly, who at trial testified he saw two women fighting... There were three potential suspects in the car that night. And yet the only DNA sample was taken of Mr. Peterson, even though unknown DNA was found on the gun."
Elsewhere in the press conference, Sunstar Peterson, the rapper's father, alleged his son "was never given a fair trial." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sunstar alleged the prosecution manipulated the evidence to ensure the rapper's guilty verdict, specifically blaming former LA County District Attorney George Gascon.
Alex Spiro, Megan Thee Stallion's attorney, also responded to the new evidence and the rapper's legal team's campaign for his pardon. In a statement to the publication, Spiro said:
“Tory Lanez was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers and his case was properly adjudicated through the court system. This is not a political matter — this is a case of a violent assault that was resolved in the court of law.”
In other news, Tory Lanez is reportedly "recovering remarkably" from his multiple stab wounds, according to his father's statement during the recent press conference. The rapper had sustained 14 stab wounds at around 7:20 am on May 12 at the California Department of Corrections, where he was incarcerated following his sentence.
According to AP News, the attacker has been identified as a fellow inmate currently serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. An investigation has been launched into the attack, and there have been no updates regarding the attacker's motive as of this writing.
