EXCLUSIVE: Tory Lanez’s defense team says Megan Thee Stallion shooting was sparked by her ‘jealousy’ of Kylie Jenner as opening statements begin in the singer’s assault trial
- Opening statements began Monday in the trial of singer-rapper Tory Lanez, who is accused of shooting rapper Megan Thee Stallion in the foot in July 2020
- Defense attorney George Mgdesyan told jurors that the case was about Megan’s ‘jealousy’ towards Kylie Jenner, who caught Lanez’s interest that night
- Megan, Lanez, and her former assistant Kelsey Harris were leaving Jenner’s party that night when an argument ensued among the three of them
- Lanez, 30, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle
Rapper Tory Lanez’s alleged shooting of fellow hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion was sparked by her jealousy of Kylie Jenner, his defense team told a Los Angeles criminal court.
In his opening statements on the first day of trial Monday, defense attorney George Mgdesyan told the court that the case is ‘about jealousy’, before recounting Lanez’s version of what happened in the early hours of July 12, 2020 after his client and Megan left a pool party at Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home.
Mgdesyan said Megan was ‘so upset and drunk and jealous’ at seeing Lanez – her alleged former lover – with Jenner, that the reality star told her: ‘It’s time for you to leave.’
They left in Lanez’s black SUV, even though ‘he didn’t want to leave, he wanted to stay with Kylie,’ said the attorney, adding that soon afterward, Megan’s friend and assistant, Kelsey Harris – who was also in the car – started arguing with Lanez.
Canadian rapper and singer Tory Lanez was seen arriving at a Los Angeles court with his five-year-old son on Monday for his first day of trial
Tory Lanez is seen in a court sketch on Monday during the trial
Lanez, who wore sage colored suit and white turtle neck shirt, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle
Megan Thee Stallion, pictured performing in Glastonbury in July 2022, had been leaving Kylie Jenner’s party with Lanez and her assistant when she was shot in the foot
According to Mgdesyan, Harris had had a previous romantic relationship with Lanez and Megan ‘went behind her back and started sleeping with him.’
Against that background, Megan and Harris started to argue and when the car stopped, the two got out and got into a fistfight, said the attorney who added that the fight was witnessed by a local resident who afterwards said he saw a woman holding a gun.
Mgdesyan urged the jury to ‘keep an open mind’ about ‘who got out of the car, how the fight started and who shot the gun.’
Megan, whose full name is Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, 27, has previously denied being in a romantic relationship with Lanez and has also shot down rumors that she had been upset at Lanez’s alleged interest in Kylie Jenner.
The two women were also seen in an Instagram Live earlier that night.
Lanez was seen arriving at court on Monday in a sage colored suit and white turtle neck shirt, and holding hands with his five-year-old son Kai’Lon.
The 30-year-old – whose real name is Daystar Peterson – has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
He could spend up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
Last week the LA District Attorney’s office added a third felony charge – discharging a firearm with gross negligence – which carries an additional six-year jail term, plus possible deportation for the Canadian-born musician.
He has also denied the third charge.
The Savage hitmaker (pictured in July 2022) is expected to take the stand on the second day of proceedings on Tuesday. Defense attorneys on Monday claimed the shooting was sparked by Megan’s alleged jealousy of Kylie Jenner
Megan has previously denied being upset that Lanez had allegedly shown interest in Kylie Jenner. The two women are pictured together during an Instagram Live the night of the shooting
The prosecutor is seen in a court sketch from Monday
Pictured: Lanez’ attorney, Mgdesyan, in court as the trial was underway
Prosecutors, meanwhile, gave a very different version Monday of what happened in the shooting incident.
‘Dance, b**h’ – that’s what the defendant said as he shot five rounds at the victim (Megan) with a semi-automatic firearm,’ Deputy District Attorney Alex Bott, told the jury Monday.
‘As a result, the victim sustained gunshot wounds to both feet.’
Wounded Megan hobbled to a nearby driveway, ‘leaving a trail of blood behind her and her assistant Harris went to her to try to comfort her,’ said Bott.
Then Lanez approached Harris and ‘physically assaulted her, pulled her by the hair and punched her or slapped her,’ he told the jury.
And Harris sent a text message to Megan’s security guard saying, ‘Help. Tory shot Meg. 911,’ Bott added.
Since several 911 calls were made to cops by residents hear the shooting scene, the SUV was on a police watch and was stopped on Hollywood Boulevard where all the occupants were ordered out.
A gun was found inside the car and it was ion the ‘slide-lock’ position, meaning even single round in the gun had been fired, said Bott, adding that ‘The gun was still warm to the touch.’
Lanez later tested positive for gunshot residue on his body and when the gun was tested for DNA, Lanez was one of four people who may have touched the weapon whose DNA ‘could not be eliminated.’
Within five hours Lanez made a phone call to Harris while she was at the hospital with Megan – then sent a text direct to Megan – apologizing and claiming he was drunk at the time of the shooting, said Bott.
He added that the shooting could have had ‘potentially deadly’ results and ‘being drunk is no excuse.’
Bott maintained that the argument in the car after the pool party was between Lanez and Megan and came about because she ‘insulted his skills’ as a singing artist.
When the car stopped and she got out, Lanez ‘grabbed the loaded 9mm handgun that was in the car,’ pointed it at Megan, and fired five rounds at her, both went on, driving home his point by playing the sound of five gunshots in court.
‘Megan was terrified – she was bleeding an injured,’ he said.
Lanez’ attorney, Mgdesyan, suggested that it was Megan’s friend and assistant Harris who fired the gun and gunshot residue was found on his client because ‘he was trying to stop her from shooting.’
Tory Lanez arrived to Los Angeles court on December 5 wearing an ankle monitor and checkered suit for the start of jury selection. Lanez, 30, is accused of shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion, 27, in the foot in July 2020
And as for Lanez’ phone call from jail to Harris, in which he apologized and said ‘I was so f***ing drunk, I didn’t know what the f*** was going on’, the lawyer said, ‘The apology was not an apology for shooting.
‘He was apologizing for cheating on them (Megan and Harris), for having a sexual relationship with both of them.
‘Was he really the shooter or was he apologizing for disclosing facts which led to the shooting?’
Accusing Megan of lying, he added: ‘She cheated on her assistant and best friend – since then they have not spoken to each other in two and a half years.’
When LAPD Detective William Acosta was called to testify that he monitored Lanez’ phone call to Harris from jail less than five hours after the shooting, he admitted under cross examination that while Lanez ‘kept apologizing’, there was no mention of him shooting a gun.
‘I do not know why he was apologizing,’ he told the jury Monday.
The Savage hitmaker is expected to take the stand on the second day of proceedings on Tuesday.
Jury selection for the trial began last Monday in Los Angeles and is expected to last for at least two weeks.
Lanez, who has been on house arrest since late October for allegedly beating up another rapper, is charged with assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle
Prosecutors said the shooting unfolded after Megan, Lanez, and her former assistant Kelsey Harris left Jenner’s party and an argument started.
Megan demanded that the driver stop the car and she got out – which was when Lanez allegedly started firing a gun toward her, injuring her foot so seriously that she needed surgery.
Megan later told Gayle King, co-host of CBS This Morning, that while Lanez was shooting, he was screaming ‘Dance, bi***.’
‘Everything happens so fast,’ she told King. ‘All I hear is this man screaming, ”Dance bi***.’
‘He started shooting….I didn’t want to move too quick because I’m like ”Oh my God…..I don’t know if he can shoot me and kill me.” I was really scared because I had never been shot at before.’
Megan also told King that Lanez offered her a million dollars to keep quiet about the incident.
Both singers have used lyrics in recent songs to accuse each other of lying.
‘Megan people tryna frame me for a shooting,’ Lanez wrote in his song Money Over Fallout.
Meanwhile Megan released the song, Shots Fired, in which she wrote that Lanez was making false claims about the shooting, ‘just to save face’, and saying that it’s she, not he, ‘speakin facts’.
Lanez has already twice run afoul of the presiding justice, LA Superior Court Judge David Herriford.
Megan, 27, told Gayle King, co-host of CBS This Morning, that while Lanez was shooting, he was screaming ‘Dance, bi***’
Megan took to Instagram with a shot of her foot injury following the shooting
The rapper – real name Daystar Peterson – could spend up to 12 years in prison if convicted. The two pictured in 2020
First, last April the judge increased his bail amount from $250,000 to $350,000 after finding that Lanez had tweeted about Megan, violating a protective order he was under that prevents him from making any social media comments about her or coming within 100 yards of her.
Then, on October 26, Judge Herriford imposed house arrest on Lanez – ordering him to wear a GPS ankle monitor until his trial – after hearing that he allegedly assaulted hip-hop singer and songwriter, August Alsina, 30, in Chicago last September.
The judge has since allowed him to take off the monitor.
After the alleged assault, Alsina posted photos on social media showing his face was bloody and accusing Lanez of violently attacking him.
Prosecutors in the Megan Thee Stallion case urged Judge Herriford to revoke Lanez’ bail and order him to jail to await trial because, in the Alsina incident, he had shown ‘such flagrant disregard’ for his bail conditions – which include staying out of trouble.
But the judge limited his sanctions of Lanez to house arrest after hearing from the rap star’s attorney, Shawn Holley, that he had not been charged in the Alsina encounter which amounted to ‘mere allegations’ that were ‘disputed.’
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