Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford has given a punishment to 31-year-old Lanez, who was found guilty in December of three serious crimes: using a semi-automatic gun to hurt someone, having a loaded and unregistered gun in a car, and carelessly shooting a gun.
This concludes a dramatic trial that caused a lot of discussion in the hip-hop community. It brought up topics like Black victims being hesitant to talk to the police, the role of gender in hip-hop, harmful behavior online, protecting Black women, and a type of mistreatment that Black women often face.
Herriford mentioned that it’s hard to understand how Lanez, who many people described as kind, generous, and a good father, could also be the person who shot a gun at Megan.
“Sometimes, nice people can make mistakes,” Herriford mentioned. “What we do has results, and nobody truly wins in this situation.”
Megan testified that in July 2020, after they left a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s home, Lanez shot at the back of her feet and told her to dance as she walked away from an SUV they were in. She needed surgery to remove bullet pieces.
Megan’s statement, read by a prosecutor, said she hasn’t felt peaceful since the shooting and is healing but forever changed.
Before sentencing, Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, teary-eyed, spoke about how Lanez’s mother died when he was 11 due to a rare blood disorder she first showed symptoms of shortly before. Lanez used music to cope.
Lanez started making music in 2009 and gained popularity, releasing albums that reached high on Billboard’s charts.
Megan Thee Stallion, now 28, was already famous during the shooting. She won a Grammy in 2021 and had hit songs like “Savage” with Beyoncé and Cardi B’s “WAP.”
Peterson, a Christian minister, spoke about Lanez’s character and charity work, as did the mother of his child, who praised his fathering. Many others wrote letters to the judge, including rapper Iggy Azalea, asking for a transformative sentence.
Lanez’s young son also wrote a letter. Supporters filled the courtroom, claiming Megan and powerful music figures unfairly targeted him. Peterson apologized to the judge for his previous outburst.
Lanez has been in jail since his conviction. A jail chaplain mentioned Lanez led prayer groups that calmed tensions where he’s held.
The judge rejected a new trial motion from Lanez’s lawyers in May, a common post-conviction move. They argued evidence was inadequate, and some presented to jurors shouldn’t have been allowed.
Megan’s lawyers argued that her statement about Lanez urging her not to involve the police, due to his parole status, was both untrue and not a valid consideration of his past actions. They also contended that the DNA evidence used by the prosecutors to suggest Lanez as the shooter did not meet industry standards.
Lanez’s legal team stated in a document submitted for sentencing that he should receive probation and be allowed to leave jail for a residential substance abuse program. They intend to challenge the court’s decision.
Earlier on the same day, Herriford determined that Megan was a particularly vulnerable victim at the time she was shot. However, the judge did not find Lanez to be excessively cruel or heartless in his actions.
Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott mentioned in court that Megan now carries both permanent physical scars and lasting emotional trauma due to the incident.