Three months after the court decision that found him guilty of all counts for the Megan Thee Stallion shooting, Tory Lanez has officially filed a motion for a new trial.
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In the new motion sent Wednesday (March 29), Lanez’s lawyers Jose Baez and Matthew Barhoma claim that an Instagram post used by the prosecutors was “erroneously allowed,” according to Rolling Stone. The post made by The Shade Room included a comment made by Lanez’s official Instagram account that asserted Kelsey Harris did not shoot Megan Thee Stallion. “that’s not true” Lanez wrote in reply to a user who commented, “People saying Kelsey shot her.”
However, Lanez’s sole defense in the trial was that Harris was responsible for Meg’s gunshot wounds. In the motion, Baez and Barhoma state that Lanez was not running his Instagram account at the time, and the surprise inclusion of the Instagram post by the prosecutors did not allow them enough time to figure out who was logged in.
“The court erred on numerous questions of law in allowing the People to introduce this post, depriving defendant of a fair trial,” the motion states. “The only acceptable remedy for this miscarriage of justice is a new trial.”
Additionally, Lanez claims in the motion that he was intimidated into not taking the stand. Regretting not testifying in the December trial, Lanez and his team claim the prosecution unjustly threatened to use music videos, song lyrics, and his tattoos as evidence of guilt. The trial’s decision took place in California just nine days before the state enacted new law AB 2799, which would seek to “exclude creative expression evidence that might lead to racial bias.”
But, during Megan Thee Stallion’s testimony, she alleged that one of Lanez’s music videos titled “Cap,” released in March 2022, depicted Lanez bludgeoning a horse leg. She assumed this to be an allusion to her “Stallion” moniker. “I got to watch Tory drop music videos chopping up horse legs and people laughing at it like that’s okay,” she testified.
This motion by Lanez’s team has been in the works for weeks. During a January court hearing following the original decision, Lanez’s team lobbied the judge to have his sentencing take place in April. Now on April 10, which was originally the sentencing date that will now be pushed back again, another hearing will take place regarding the motion. However, the prosecutors plan to respond to Lanez’s appeal before then.
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