{"id":158893,"date":"2022-12-15T20:32:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T20:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kelsey-harris-testifies-in-tory-lanez-trial-about-megan-thee-stallion\/"},"modified":"2022-12-15T20:32:16","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T20:32:16","slug":"kelsey-harris-testifies-in-tory-lanez-trial-about-megan-thee-stallion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kelsey-harris-testifies-in-tory-lanez-trial-about-megan-thee-stallion\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelsey Harris Testifies in Tory Lanez Trial About Megan Thee Stallion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rapper Tory Lanez shakes hands with his lawyer George Mgdesyan after the third day of his assault trial for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. (Photo: Meghann M. Cuniff\/Law&Crime)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Megan Thee Stallion<\/strong>‘s former friend and assistant Kelsey Harris<\/strong> tested Wednesday that she never saw Tory Lanez<\/strong> shooting a gun the night Megan was shot in every feet. She told a prosecutor trying to convict Lanez of assault that she made statements that \u201cweren’t accurate\u201d in a recorded September interview partially played for the jury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some things I wasn’t truthful about,\u201d Harris said before Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta<\/strong> played a clip from Harris’ interview in which she sounds much more relaxed and candid as she spoke about Lanez’s alleged actions the night of the July 12, 2020, shooting. On the witness stand, Harris appeared more animated when testing about Megan, saying: \u201cI’m neutral; I moved on with my life\u201d but that Megan spread false rumors that \u201cI took hush money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked later what her falling out with Megan was about, Harris replied, \u201cUm, that’s a great question. I don’t know.\u201d Ta asked it was because she believed that in Megan’s public statement about the shooting, \u201cshe she did n’t protect you enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She was much more subdued when answering questions about Lanez, telling Ta about the night of the shooting, \u201cIt was a blur, and we were under the influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reluctant, sparsely worded testimony, Harris sporadically invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and described her presence in court as \u201ctriggering\u201d for her. At around 4:30 am on July 12, 2020, Megan, Lanez and Harris had been leaving reality star Kylie Jenner<\/strong>‘s home. Harris tested that Lanez had implied Megan was hiding something from Harris during the argument that prompted Megan to exit the Escalade. Megan testified Tuesday that she exited the vehicle amid a heated argument, then heard Lanez say, \u201cDance, bitch\u201d \u2014 then saw him standing through a window firing a gun. Police found spent shell casings at the scene, and a surgeon removed bullet fragments from one of Megan’s feet, both of which were wounded.<\/p>\n

Harris texted Megan’s manager moments after the gunfire was reported, \u201cHelp. Tory shot meg. 911.\u201d in three messages. But Harris on Wednesday she was only assuming so when she texted that. She never identified Lanez as the gunman on the witness stand, and she rebuffed Ta’s attempts to press her into doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t see him, and I told you that. I didn’t see him do that,\u201d she told Ta on Wednesday. \u201cI didn’t see him do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her testimony didn’t change after Ta played recordings of her contrary September interview, including one in which she said she answered Lanez’s threat by saying, \u201cAlright, if you shoot me, you shoot me, I guess it’s my time to go.\u201d After a discussion among the attorneys outside the jury’s earshot, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford<\/strong> reminded the jurors that the recording of Harris’ September interview with prosecutors was not evidence and was instead being used to try to refresh Harris’ memory of what she said then.<\/p>\n

Harris’ guarded answers to Ta offered a firsthand account of a close friendship between two women that ripped apart after shooting, Lanez’s arrest and subsequent felony indictment, and the fierce debate within the hip-hop industry about what happened and who was to blame. She and Megan both had been intimate with Lanez, and Megan’s initial story to the Los Angeles police officers who’d pulled them over at gunpoint was that she’d merely stepped on glass. She came forward about the shooting four days later, but her claims about broken glass continue to fuel speculative and often vitriolic criticism.<\/p>\n

Lanez’s lawyer George Mgdeysan<\/strong>, however, isn’t disputing that Megan was shot, and he said in his opening statement on Monday that police and prosecutors wrongly rushed to charge Lanez while ignoring Harris. He’s expected to cross-examine Harris tomorrow after Ta finishes her direct examination.<\/p>\n

Before the jury entered the courtroom about 11:15 am on Wednesday, Judge Herriford announced he would be allowing Harris to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination under California Evidence Code 940. Doing so requires<\/a> him to determine that her possible answers could in fact incriminate her, but no public record exists of Herriford’s reasoning regarding Harris. Ta and Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott<\/strong> Harris immunity in exchange for her testimony granted, with Ta saying they had no criminal investigation involving Harris.<\/p>\n

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Citing the witness’s immunity, the prosecutor pressed Harris about her reticence on the witness stand. At one point, Ta needled Harris about whom she was trying to protect when she supposedly lied during the September interview and said she saw Lanez firing the gun. Prosecutors’ agreement to give Harris immunity meant she couldn’t plead the Fifth, but she asked to do so when Ta asked if Lanez had threatened to shoot her.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I have to answer that?\u201d Harris asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Ta answered.<\/p>\n

Harris did so by saying, \u201cYes, ma’am,\u201d affirming that Lanez threatened to shoot her.<\/p>\n

Asked what Lanez said, Harris asked, “Can I take my Fifth?” Ta told her she’d have to speak with her lawyer. Daniel Nardoni<\/strong> of Pasadena, California, was in court with her, and she conferenced with him for a few moments before Ta again asked Harris what Lanez told her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I want to answer my Fifth Amendment,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to answer that question,\u201d Ta said. The continued exchange captured the essence of 2.5 hours of testimony stretched over a 90-minute and 15-minute break, with Ta becoming increasingly combative with Harris as she tried to avoid answering questions and denied things she’d once said were true.<\/p>\n

Ta asked, \u201cKelsey, why don’t you want to answer that question,\u201d and she said, \u201cIt’s just, I don’t know.\u201d She added, \u201cI do n’t want to be here\u201d but she said of what Lanez told her in the car, \u201cI do n’t know. It don’t matter to me. I just, I don’t want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ta also asked Harris about Lanez offering her $1 million not to testify against him, saying, \u201cKelsey, at some point in this case, did Tory try to bribe you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUm,\u201d Harris said, before a pregnant, roughly 20-second pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ta followed by asking Harris who else Lanez tried to bribe. That’s when Harris said, \u201cI wouldn’t say ‘bribe.\u201d She said Lanez said it wasn’t \u201cabout not saying anything, no,\u201d but then she added, \u201cbut it was mentioned.\u201d She also said, \u201cHe mentioned a million dollars\u2026I guess it was just about the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ta asked, \u201cHe offered you a million dollars to keep quiet\u201d about the shooting?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s not the exact wording,\u201d Harris answered. \u201cHe mentioned the million, but again it’s a blur.\u201d Ta asked Harris if she’s previously said Lanez offered her favors for not talking, and she answered, \u201cAgain, I said a few things in our interview.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ta began her exam by asking Harris how she was feeling about being in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t care to be here today\u2026I mean, it’s a trigger, you know, situation,\u201d Harris tested. Asked what was triggering her, Harris answered, \u201cAnxiety. postpartum. Currently dealing with a death. I just do not want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, this has happened in the face of a million people,\u201d she continued. She cited \u201clies from Megan,\u201d and said she felt betrayed. Ta asked early on about the claim at the core of Lanez’s defense: That it was Harris who fired the bullets that left fragments in Megan’s feet, with one operated on by a surgeon.<\/p>\n

Harris said she’s heard the accusations that it wasn’t Lanez but her who shot Megan and, \u201cI mean, it’s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

She identified Lanez seated at the defense table by saying, \u201cHe has an all-black turtle neck, suit.\u201d She said she first met him at a Roc Nation music label brunch earlier in 2020, and later \u201cme and Tory kind of had some communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a few nights, you know, where we were engaged,\u201d Harris said. Ta asked her what she meant by engaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than a friendship,\u201d Harris said. Ta questioned her about her relationship with Lanez changing after she went to Texas, confirming with Harris they were both from there and Harris answering, \u201cI do n’t know where she’s from she. Baxer County? She I’m from Victoria, Texas.\u201d She caught COVID while back in Houston, and as she was gone, Megan’s relationship with Tory developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid they get closer?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, ma’am,\u201d Harris answered. Harris had her own place in Houston \u2013 \u201cfunded by myself\u201d \u2013 but Megan told her she was buying a new home, and she could get rid of her stuff because she was buying everything new. She returned to Los Angeles to stay with Megan \u2013 or \u201cMeg\u201d as she called her \u2013 then went to reality star Kylie Jenner’s home for what she repeatedly told Ta was not a party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to be very clear \u2013 it wasn’t a party. Just a few people hanging out,\u201d Harris said. She reminded Ta of this several times as Ta tried to remember to call it a gathering. She said \u201cMegan wanted to make nachos for everyone\u201d while three or four people were outside enjoying themselves. \u201cWe were all playing beer pong, just kinda having a great time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Harris said Megan walked outside and said, \u201cY’all having fun without me,\u201d and the others said told her to join them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know what happened with the food. I guess everyone forgot about it,\u201d Harris said. They group continued \u201cdoing what everybody would do. Enjoying themselves. Swimming in the pool.\u201d Harris said she went and passed out at some point because \u201cI’d had a lot of alcohol\u201d and when she woke up, Megan was drunk and \u201cseemed a little off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing this laughing, just obnoxiously,\u201d Harris said. Harris said Megan’s demeanor “was off, she doesn’t want to be here.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was Tory doing?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being Tory. Flirting,\u201d Harris answered.<\/p>\n

Harris said she told Megan, \u201cyour appearance isn’t together, let’s go.\u201d Megan wanted Lanez to leave with her and was still laughing her \u201cobnoxious laugh,\u201d Harris said, when she went outside where Lanez was. As established by prosecutors and in Megan’s testimony, Lanez was in the pool with Jenner.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently a fight or argument happened,\u201d Harris tested. \u201cI wasn’t there, so I don’t know.\u201d Megan soon returned inside, and Harris asking Ta, \u201cI’m sorry, can I cuss?\u201d and recounting what Megan said after Ta affirmed that profanity in court is fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’s like, ‘Bitch, we gotta get the fuck out,’\u201d Harris said, quoting Megan. The three leave in an Escalade driven by Lanez’s driver, John Smith<\/strong>and Megan \u201cis, she’s just rambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout what?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many things,\u201d Harris answered. Harris said there was \u201cso much stuff\u201d and back and forth name-calling between \u201cme, Megan, Megan, Tory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were both going back and forth about artistry, I guess,\u201d she said. \u201cWe’re all just taking jabs at each other.\u201d She appeared reluctant to implicate Lanez on anything, including whether he’d called Megan \u201cbitches and hoes\u201d with Ta reminding her she’d said during every September interview that he said that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, we were all calling each other names, so, so yes, ma’am,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

Ta said a few times Harris, \u201cWhen you talked to us in September it wasn’t a blur,\u201d Ta said.<\/p>\n

Harris answered \u201cno\u201d when asked if she shot Megan, but when asked if who did, she said, \u201cAgain, I was getting out of the car\u201d and did not see what happened. She also struggled to explain a recorded phone call Lanez made to her from jail hours after the shooting, saying, \u201cThat night, I don’t remember an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, it was a blur,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Harris is to continue testing Thursday at 10:30 am Pacific time in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

follow reporter Meghann Cuniff on Twitter<\/a> for live updates from the courthouse.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have a tip we should know? [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n