Tory Lanez has requested a new trial after being found guilty in the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
Lanez’s new lawyers argue in documents obtained by Rolling Stone that the judge “erroneously allowed” jurors to view an Instagram comment made by Lanez’s account claiming that Megan’s former best friend Kelsey Harris was not the shooter.
Lanez’s account responded, “That’s not true,” to The Shade Room’s post, “People saying Kelsey shot her.” The filing includes a statement from Lanez’s content creator, Joshua Farias, who claims he was managing Lanez’s Instagram at the time and made the comment.
Lanez’s attorneys claim that the Instagram comment was admitted into evidence during the middle of the trial, giving the defense insufficient time to figure out who wrote the reply. They claim Tory’s post amounted to an open admission that Kelsey did not fire the gun. The entire defense case was built around claims that Kelsey was the shooter, which she denied during her trial testimony.
“By allowing the People to introduce this post, the court erred on numerous legal questions, depriving Kenner, who previously represented Suge Knight and Snoop Dogg, has since withdrawn from the case. “David Kenner will no longer be a part of my defense team due to a scheduling conflict,” Lanez explained. “I’d like to thank Mr. Kenner for his hard work and sound advice.” Jose Baez will continue to be my first chair, and Matthew Barhoma will be my second chair.”defendant of a fair trial,” the motion states. “A new trial is the only acceptable remedy for this miscarriage of justice.”
The defense claims that prosecutors unfairly “painted defendant as a gun-wielding career criminal” by introducing a shirtless photo of Lanez with a gun tattoo to imply that he had a penchant for weapons.
Lanez was found guilty on all three counts in December, including assault with a semiautomatic handgun, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. When he is sentenced, he faces up to 22 years and eight months in prison and deportation.
He hired a new legal team earlier this year, including David Kenner, and successfully delayed his sentencing until April so that they could prepare a motion for a new trial.
