{"id":165824,"date":"2022-12-23T03:38:12","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T03:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jury-deliberates-tory-lanez-trial-over-megan-thee-stallion-shooting-rolling-stone\/"},"modified":"2022-12-23T03:38:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T03:38:12","slug":"jury-deliberates-tory-lanez-trial-over-megan-thee-stallion-shooting-rolling-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jury-deliberates-tory-lanez-trial-over-megan-thee-stallion-shooting-rolling-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury Deliberates Tory Lanez Trial Over Megan Thee Stallion Shooting \u2013 Rolling Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n\tTory Lanez and<\/span> his \u201cmassive ego\u201d couldn’t handle being disrespected and ditched by Megan Thee Stallion on a California curbside two years ago, so he opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol, hit Megan in both feet and then started \u201cmanipulating\u201d her into silence, a prosecutor said Thursday in her closing argument.<\/p>\n

\n

\tLanez’s defense lawyer, meanwhile, used his last address to jurors to challenge Megan’s credibility. He also tried to convince jurors that the lack of DNA conclusively linking Lanez to the 9mm handgun found at his feet was enough to acquit the \u201cLuv\u201d singer based on reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

\n

\tAfter hearing the dueling summaries, a jury of five men and seven women deliberated for three hours Thursday and agreed to resume Friday rather than wait until after the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n

\n

\tLanez has pleaded not guilty to felony assault with a firearm; concealing a loaded, unregistered gun in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He faces up to 22 years in prison and deportation to Canada if convicted as charged.<\/p>\n

\n

\tLos Angeles Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta had the last word in her rebuttal argument Thursday morning, telling jurors she hoped something Megan said during her testimony last week had \u201cresonated\u201d with them.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cThere is not a day that goes by where somebody is not calling me a liar or is not shaming me for being a grown woman and having sex. This whole story has not been about the shooting, it’s only been about who is Tory having sex with,\u201d Megan said in the testimony projected on a screen and read aloud by the prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\n

\tTa then blasted Lanez’s defense lawyer, George Mgdesyan, for having \u201cname-dropped\u201d in his own closing argument two other famous men he claimed had some type of sexual relationship with Megan.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cHe said this case was about sexual relationships. That’s not true. This case has always been about the shooting,\u201d Tat argued. \u201cWhy did the defense do this? He wants to play on age-old prejudices and biases. But you are all better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tEditor’s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n

\tShe said the case \u201cis not about anyone’s sex life\u201d and urged jurors to look at the evidence and sworn testimony. She said it was Lanez’s \u201cbruised ego\u201d that led to the shooting. \u201c(Megan) disrespected his rapping. She she’s insulting him as a rapper, and that pissed him off. He had a massive ego and he could not handle being disrespected. And how dare she have the audacity to walk away from him. So he reasserted his dominance. He was going to show her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tDuring her harrowing turn on the witness stand, Megan’s backlash over the shooting turned her from a victim into a \u201cvillain\u201d and left her feeling suicidal at times. She said it also affected her relationship with boyfriend Pardison Fontaine, leaving her worried and ashamed about what he might encounter online.<\/p>\n

\n

\tIn a message posted to his Instagram stories Thursday, Fontaine expressed his support for women who step forward amid adversity.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cTo any woman especially ones of color that has suffered an injustice, I feel for you,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWhen you do find the courage to speak up.. it seems you will be ridiculed.. your credibility will (be) questioned.. your entire past will be held under a magnifying glass.. in an instant you can go from victim to defendant in the eyes of the public.. to any one with a daughter Sister mother niece or aunt.. I pray for their protection.. I pray for their covering.. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tTa said Megan became complicit in a coverup at the outset of the investigation because Lanez was \u201cmanipulating\u201d her and Kelsey Harris, Megan’s former best friend who was also present at the shooting.<\/p>\n

\n

\tAccording to Mgdesyan, Harris shot Megan after Lanez revealed he had been sleeping with both women. Lanez allegedly made the statement during a drunken dispute inside his Cadillac Escalade following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tRelated<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n

\t\u201cThe entire defense theory is that the reason Megan lied is because it was more convenient from a PR perspective to say Tory was the shooter instead of Kelsey. Make that make sense,\u201d Ta challenged the jury, saying Megan’s decision to finally step forward and name her assailant was incredibly difficult for her in the male-dominated rap music industry.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cEvery man that’s in a position of power in the music industry, even people who are not even rappers, they never cared about what my side of the story was. They immediately took the side of the man and have been giving me hell for the last going on three years,\u201d Megan said in testimony last week that Ta read to the jury.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cHe is a fellow rapper in the industry. He has the support of the boy’s club. It would have been easier for her to say, ‘My crazy assistant did this to me.’ It is much harder for her to come out against Tory,\u201d Ta argued. \u201cShe had to think about it because she was concerned about what it would cost her, and it cost her a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tTa then highlighted the three text messages that Harris sent to Megan’s off-site bodyguard within five minutes of the shooting on July 12, 2020. She scoffed at the defense claim that Harris sent the texts \u2013 which read \u201cHelp \/ Tory shot meg \/ 911 \u201d \u2013 to cover her tracks in a sophisticated plot backed up by Megan.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cMegan would essentially have to be a sociopath to frame someone who didn’t shoot her for a nuanced PR (move),\u201d Ta said. \u201cYou’d have to buy into this idea that both of these people are framing someone, and they’re both criminal masterminds. That doesn’t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tShe addressed head on the defense claim that Megan must have been lying when she testified that Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, offered her $1 million and said he was on \u201cprobation\u201d and afraid of going to jail as sirens approached.<\/p>\n

\n

\tMgdesyan had been adamant his client was not on probation at the time of the shooting and that a court-ordered diversion program in a separate Florida case had ended back in 2017.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cWhether or not he’s on probation in 2020 doesn’t matter. What matters is that he told<\/em> Megan he was on probation because he was manipulating her,\u201d Ta said. \u201cHe tries to appeal to her sympathy. ‘I have a gun charge, I’m on probation, please don’t say anything.’ It’s a pattern of manipulation to get the witnesses to keep a lid on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tTa also focused heavily on Sean Kelly, the homeowner who tested this week that he peered out his bedroom window and witnessed the shooting. Kelly said he believed he saw an initial muzzle flash near the hand of one of the \u201cgirls\u201d and then a volley of shots from Peterson.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cWhen he talks about Kelsey, it’s a little vague, he’s not totally clear,\u201d Ta argued Thursday, saying Kelly’s claim that the first shot was directed into the vehicle was \u201cimpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cThere’s no physical evidence there was a shooting inside the car. No shattered glass, no bullets, no casings, no smell of gunpowder,\u201d Ta said.<\/p>\n

\n

\tShe urged jurors to take a close look at the transcript of Kelly’s testimony because she reviewed it carefully and determined Kelly got much more specific when talking about Peterson.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cHe was holding something, and it flashed and made a loud noise like a gun,\u201d Kelly tested, according to a transcript Ta put up on a screen.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cYou will never hear Sean Kelly say he ever saw Kelsey holding an object,\u201d Ta argued. \u201cHe said it twice about the defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tOn Thursday afternoon, jurors requested a full read-back of Kelly’s full testimony, apparently heeding Ta’s request.<\/p>\n

\n

\tIn his own last words to the jury, Mgdesyan said his client has said in the aftermath of the shooting as well. He also painted Peterson as a victim of bias.<\/p>\n

\n

\t \u201cThe story fits better if the Black man shot a Black woman. That’s what this case is about,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

\n

\tMgdesyan also used his argument to emphasize the fact that LAPD investigators never tested the gun for Harris’ DNA.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cWho’s the only person they took DNA from? My client. Why? My client voluntarily gives his DNA, why? Why didn’t they take DNA from (the driver) or Kelsey?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\n

\tAnd he hammered on the fact that Peterson’s DNA was not found on the gun’s magazine and that testing on the pistol didn’t return a definitive hit either, meaning prosecutors couldn’t say it was there. <\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cIsn’t having DNA reasonable doubt in and of itself?\u201d he argued. \u201cIf Kelsey Harris’ DNA was on that gun, would we be here today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tBut Ta reminded jurors that Peterson’s DNA wasn’t excluded either. It was an inconclusive result, two experts tested. The prosecutor also addressed why Harris’ DNA wasn’t tested.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cBy the time the DNA evidence was taken, there was already a clear suspect in this case. We had the jail call. We had the apology text,\u201d Ta argued. \u201cDNA is not this smoking gun. Sometimes it leads to something, sometimes it doesn’t. Here, it’s inconclusive. It does not create reasonable doubt in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tBoth Ta and Mgdesyan accused the other side of failing to put the driver, Jauquan Smith, on the witness stand. Smith was in the courthouse building on Wednesday, but because he had never given a prior statement in the case, prosecutors asked for a three-day continuance straddling the holiday weekend to prepare. Mgdesyan told Rolling Stone<\/em> the defense opted not to call him out of concern the delay could lead to a mistrial.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cWho is Jauquan?\u201d Ta asked in her final closing. \u201cQuan is Tory’s guy. So when the defense makes this big issue about why the people didn’t call him, ask yourself this: They have power to subpoena witnesses, just like we do. They could have subpoenaed Quan, Tory’s guy, to support their defense that Kelsey shot Meg. Why didn’t they do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\tShe said jurors should focus on the evidence that was vetted and admitted, including Peterson’s recorded jail call to Harris placed the morning of the shooting.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cLet’s say she’s the shooter, at no point does he say, ‘Kelsey, what the hell happened? What were you doing?’ And this is allegedly someone looking out for Meg. At no point in that call does he suggest Kelsey did anything. He’s the only one apologizing,\u201d Ta said.<\/p>\n

\n

\tTa also addressed Harris’s starting about-face on the witness stand last week, where she disavowed a September 2022 recorded statement to prosecutors identifying Peterson as the triggerman. She suggested Harris caught \u201ccourtroom amnesia\u201d due to some unidentified outside influence.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cThink about what happened. She was clearly distributed. You saw the video of her arrest. She was crying and hyperventilating,\u201d Ta said, disputing the notion that Harris sent the texts to Megan’s bodyguard, Justin Harris, to frame Peterson.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\u201cSo the idea that four minutes after the shooting, she texts Justin \u2013 not the police \u2013 but Justin, that ‘Tory shot Meg’ to cover herself, (that would be) playing 4-D chess,\u201d Ta said. \u201cShe would be thinking not two steps ahead but ten steps ahead. \u2026 She She was n’t protecting herself, she was keeping things in house, that’s why she she texted Justin and not the police. \u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\ttrending<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n

\tIn his own closing, Mgdesyan had a different explanation for why Harris was crying in the video of her arrest: \u201cShe’s the one who shot her friend. She she’s upset, she’s crying because she realized what she did. That’s why she she’s crying.<\/p>\n

\n

\tJurors left the courthouse at 4 pm PT after deliberating three hours Thursday and are due back Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n