Tory Lanez is facing more legal roadblocks in his fight to overturn his conviction in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. The California appellate court has officially denied two separate petitions the rapper filed, keeping his 10-year prison sentence firmly in place.
The petitions, submitted in 2023 and 2024, were part of Lanez’s push to challenge the December 2022 jury verdict. Both claimed there was new evidence or information that wasn’t presented during his trial — but the judges weren’t convinced.
In the first petition, Lanez argued that the firearm linked to the case had been “lost,” stopping him from conducting his own review. The court dismissed that, citing an LAPD officer’s sworn statement confirming the gun, magazine, bullets, and fragments are still in police custody. He also asked for more DNA testing, but the court noted he never made that request during the trial and didn’t explain how it would prove his innocence.
During the trial, experts testified that Lanez’s DNA was not found on the magazine, and testing on the firearm was inconclusive. Jurors also heard Megan Thee Stallion’s testimony, a neighbor’s eyewitness account, and a recorded statement from Megan’s former best friend Kelsey Harris confirming that Lanez was the shooter.
The second petition claimed there was new testimony from Lanez’s driver, Jauquan Smith, who said he saw the gun in Harris’s hands before the shooting but didn’t see who fired it. Lanez’s lawyers argued this pointed to Harris as the shooter. The petition also mentioned an alleged statement from bodyguard Bradlie James, claiming Harris admitted to firing the gun. Harris denied this in court and had already provided prosecutors with a statement supporting Megan’s account.
Judges ruled that Lanez’s legal team had the chance to use Smith’s statement during trial but chose not to. They also said the affidavit from James came too late and offered no explanation for why Lanez split his habeas claims instead of filing them together.
Lanez’s attorneys haven’t commented on the latest ruling. They’re expected back in court Monday for oral arguments in his direct appeal, where they’ll argue he didn’t get a fair trial.
