{"id":44179,"date":"2025-08-19T01:11:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T01:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/tory-lanez-appeal-hearing-focuses-on-megan-thee-stallions-bodyguard\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T01:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T01:11:59","slug":"tory-lanez-appeal-hearing-focuses-on-megan-thee-stallions-bodyguard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/tory-lanez-appeal-hearing-focuses-on-megan-thee-stallions-bodyguard\/","title":{"rendered":"Tory Lanez Appeal Hearing Focuses on Megan Thee Stallion’s Bodyguard"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tThe three-judge panel weighing Tory Lanez<\/a>\u2019s appeal in the Megan Thee Stallion<\/a> shooting case posed only a handful of questions during oral arguments Monday as Lanez\u2019s lawyer claimed the musician\u2019s 2022 conviction<\/a> should be overturned and a prosecutor called Lanez\u2019s argument \u201cnonsensical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her first two questions, Associate Justice Rashida Adams with California\u2019s Second Appellate District focused on Lanez\u2019s argument that prosecutors should have been barred from making explosive claims about Megan\u2019s bodyguard, Justin Edison, at the start of Lanez\u2019s jury trial. At the very least, the judge should have stepped in afterward to mitigate any possible damage, defense lawyer Crystal Morgan argued.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn their opening statement back in December 2022, prosecutors advised jurors they would hear from Edison directly. A deputy district attorney said Edison would appear on the witness stand and \u201ctell\u201d jurors that Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, met him face-to-face at a home after the shooting and confessed he was the trigger man during the alcohol-fueled fight in July 2020 that landed Megan in the hospital.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the prosecutors\u2019 promise, Edison did not cooperate with his subpoena, leading the judge to issue a so-called body attachment. That meant Edison could be brought to court in custody if necessary. Still, no one could find Edison, and he never appeared on the witness stand.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAre you arguing that anytime a witness is subject to a body attachment, that any reference to that witness should be off-limits in opening statements?\u201d Justice Adams asked, somewhat incredulously. (In a filing, the California Attorney General argued that prosecutors \u201chad a good faith belief that the jury would hear [Edison\u2019s] testimony.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think prosecutors should be extra careful,\u201d Morgan replied in the courtroom Monday, with Peterson\u2019s dad, Sonstar Peterson, watching from the gallery. \u201cIf they say they \u2018hope to produce\u2019 such a witness, that perhaps would be enough. But here, there was just no hesitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tJustice Adams appeared skeptical. \u201cSo, what was the evidence or indication that [prosecutors] did not have a reasonable, good-faith belief that the people would not be able to produce Mr. Edison at trial?\u201d the judge asked.<\/p>\n

\n\tMorgan said Lanez and his lawyers never received a copy of any interview that prosecutors conducted with Edison. \u201cWe cannot find where this statement came from,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it was his turn to speak, Deputy Attorney General Michael Keller said there was more than enough \u201ccompelling\u201d evidence to convict Peterson, without the need for Edison. And he said if Peterson\u2019s lawyers truly wanted more information about the evidence prosecutors developed on Edison, they should have raised that question during the trial, before the judge ruled on whether Edison would be allowed to take the stand. \u201cThe defense\u2019s failure in doing so precludes the claim from being raised on appeal,\u201d Keller argued Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tEdison was mentioned repeatedly during the trial. Jurors saw evidence that Megan\u2019s former best friend, Kelsey Harris, texted Edison just five minutes after the 2020 shooting in an apparent cry for assistance. \u201cHelp \/ Tory shot meg \/ 911,\u201d the three-line text shown to jurors said.<\/p>\n

\n\tKeller argued Monday that any trial testimony from Edison would have been cumulative. He said Megan and Harris both identified Peterson as the shooter, and that Peterson implicated himself when he called Harris from jail on a recorded line, and again later, when he sent a text message to Megan just hours after the shooting.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn the jail call played for jurors, Peterson blamed alcohol for his actions and said he expected that Megan was \u201cprobably never ever gonna ever talk to me ever again.\u201d In his subsequent text to Megan, he wrote, \u201cI know u prolly never gone to talk to me again. But I genuinely want u to know I\u2019m sorry from the bottom of my heart. And I was just too drunk. None the less shit should have never happened and I can\u2019t change what did. I just feel horrible. Cuz I genuinely just got too drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKeller called it \u201cnonsensical\u201d that Peterson was only apologizing for causing a \u201crift\u201d in the women\u2019s friendship. \u201cHe was clearly accepting responsibility for something big. Something that applied to [Megan] but not to Harris,\u201d Keller argued.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdams\u2019s final question from the panel involved a Sept. 25, 2020, exchange on Peterson\u2019s Instagram account that was admitted at trial. In the exchange, a third-party posted a comment stating, \u201cPeople saying that Kelsey shot her.\u201d Under that comment, Peterson appeared to respond, \u201cThat\u2019s not true.\u201d At trial, Peterson argued he didn\u2019t author the comment. On Monday, his lawyer said it was a social media manager named Joshua Farias who posted the reply on Peterson\u2019s verified account.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf there were some sort of error in admitting that post, what would your argument be as to whether it was prejudicial or not?\u201d Justice Adams asked. Keller said jurors heard the claim from Peterson that he didn\u2019t write the reply, so they got to determine how much weight it deserved. And he argued it was hardly a make-or-break piece of evidence warranting a new trial.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat we do know is that he did make the recorded [jail] phone call, that\u2019s his voice,\u201d Keller replied.<\/p>\n

\n\tKeller also argued against Peterson\u2019s claim that he was deprived of the right to confront Harris on cross-examination after jurors heard her recorded interview with prosecutors, where she corroborated Megan\u2019s claims that Peterson was the shooter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHarris wasn\u2019t excused as a witness,\u201d Keller said, meaning Peterson could have called her back to the witness stand. \u201cI see nothing that would preclude Harris from recall,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo the confrontation clause just does not work on appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMorgan gave a brief rebuttal, saying \u201cthere was not enough evidence\u201d to find Peterson guilty. \u201cEven today, it\u2019s still not quite clear what happened on that night,\u201d she said. The judges took the matter under submission without saying when they plan to rule on the direct appeal.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeterson, 33, is currently serving\u00a0a 10-year prison sentence<\/a>\u00a0for shooting\u00a0Megan on a street in Los Angeles after a party at Kylie Jenner\u2019s house. At trial, jurors heard testimony that Peterson pointed a handgun at Megan\u2019s feet and fired five rounds while saying, \u201cDance bitch.\u201d Megan suffered gunshot wounds to both of her feet and required immediate surgery.<\/p>\n

\n\tJurors convicted Peterson of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Peterson raised 10 claims in his appeal\u2019s opening brief filed in February 2024, claiming evidence was improperly admitted, that prosecutorial misconduct occurred, that the jury was improperly instructed, that the alleged errors were prejudicial when considered cumulatively, and that the court erred in sentencing him to the middle term instead of imposing the low term.<\/p>\n

\n\tProsecutors responded by arguing Peterson called no direct witnesses himself and declined to testify. Beyond his direct appeal, Peterson tried to overturn his conviction with habeas petitions claiming that new evidence or issues not known during the trial were sufficient to undermine the jury verdict. The appellate panel rejected those habeas petitions<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Peterson\u2019s 2022 trial, Megan\u00a0gave three hours of harrowing testimony<\/a>\u00a0in which she recalled her \u201cterrified\u201d reaction to the roadside assault that landed her in the hospital. She admitted she lied to investigators and media outlets when she previously denied having been \u201cintimate\u201d with Lanez. She explained to jurors that the non-exclusive relationship left her feeling \u201cembarrassed,\u201d and ultimately, she considered it irrelevant to the actual shooting.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecause I was shot, I\u2019ve been turned into some kind of villain, and he\u2019s the victim. This has messed up my whole life,\u201d she said. At her lowest she thought, \u201cI wish he would have just shot and killed me (rather than) have to go through this torture,\u201d Megan told the jury.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe chief resident of orthopedic surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center walked jurors through X-rays showing Megan\u2019s gunshot wounds on both of her lower extremities. He said doctors\u00a0identified four metallic bullet fragments<\/a>\u00a0embedded in her feet and removed what they could during emergency surgery.<\/p>\n

\n\tA man who lived on the residential street where the shooting occurred, Sean Kelly, testified that he woke up to the sound of an argument. Looking out a window, Kelly saw two girls who were arguing and physically fighting next to a car, he testified.<\/p>\n

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\n\tKelly never saw a gun, he said, but he believed one of the women fired at least one shot because he saw a muzzle flash that seemed to come from her direction. But Kelly told jurors\u00a0he also saw a \u201cvery agitated\u201d shorter man \u201cfiring everywhere.\u201d<\/a> At the time the shots were fired, the man had an object in his hand with his arms outstretched, Kelly testified.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeterson did not attend the hearing on Monday. He\u2019s currently serving his sentence at the California Men\u2019s Colony in San Luis Obispo, California. He was moved to the new location after\u00a0he was stabbed<\/a>\u00a0by a fellow inmate at a different state prison in Tehachapi in May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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The three-judge panel weighing Tory Lanez\u2019s appeal in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting case posed only a handful of questions during oral arguments Monday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}