The Canadian musician wants a new trial which would include the testimony of the driver on the fateful night.
Rapper Tory Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, and his legal team are calling for a new trial relating to his conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
Peterson’s legal team filed a motion for a new trial back in December, stemming from Jauquan Smith’s testimony that wasn’t included in the original trial. Smith was the driver on the fateful night when Megan Thee Stallion, real name Megan Pete, was shot. In his affidavit, Smith alleged that he saw Pete’s former friend, Kelsey Harris, holding a gun during a fight between the pair. Though, he did not see who fired the gun, noting that Peterson attempted to disarm Harris.
“Ms. Pete and Ms. Harris began fighting. I pulled over to stop them. Ms. Pete and Ms. Harris both got out of the vehicle and continued to fight,” Smith wrote. “I broke up this fight and was pulling Ms. Pete toward the back of the car. I saw Ms. Harris with a gun in her hand.”
Smith alleged that Peterson ran towards Harris in an attempt to disarm her, and Smith continued to lead Pete towards the car. Due to this, Smith wasn’t able to see who fired the gun.
According to Meghann Cunniff via her Legal Affairs and Trials newsletter, Peterson knew Smith would testify in the original trial. Peterson and his legal team did not call Smith to the stand during the original trial, telling the judge that Smith’s testimony was not necessary.
In a petition filed in December 2023, Peterson’s legal team claimed they were unaware of what Smith witnessed that night. Deputy Attorney Michael C. Keller wrote a brief in response to this petition, claiming that Peterson’s legal team, specifically his lawyer George Mgdesyan, knew about Smith’s account of events and his potential testimony.
“Defense counsel acknowledged that he had spoken with Smith regarding his observation and determined that SMith would not be a helpful witness,” Keller wrote.
Keller notes that Smith did not directly contradict Pete’s account on who shot her as he did not see who fired the gun. According to Keller’s 38-page brief, Harris also failed to identify the shooter during her testimony, and consistently denied being the shooter herself.
Not only did Harris and Smith both fail to identify the shooter, Peterson “implicated himself as the shooter twice in recorded admissions made within 24 hours of the shooting” — once in a text message to Pete and during a recorded call he made to Harris from jail. Also, the gun was found under the front passenger seat where Peterson was sitting when the SUV was stopped by police.
On top of wanting his felonies to be overturned, Peterson seeks a resentencing based on four claims.
One is based on Assembly Bill 518, which ended a requirement that crime eligible for different punishments receive the longest possible. The law went into effect before Peterson’s August 2023 sentencing. According to Keller’s brief, Peterson’s petitions suggest otherwise and that the bill retroactively applies to Peterson’s case.
The argument may be irrelevant as the bill allows for the judge to still choose the longest possible sentence, it just won’t be mandatory.
Another claim cites Assembly Bill 124, which allows a judge to impose the lowest possible sentence if the person suffered any type of trauma, specifically psychological, physical or childhood trauma.
During the sentencing, later repeated in the petition, Peterson’s lawyers claimed that he had post-traumatic stress disorder from his mother’s death when he was 11 years old. Judge Herriford asked the defense to prove or address how Peterson’s childhood trauma contributed to the shooting.
Peterson’s petition also cited Senate Bill 620, which ended mandatory gun enhancements in 2017. The court gave Peterson’s legal team the opportunity to discuss the factors related to Peterson's gun enhancement charge, though the court later ruled that it would not take away the charge.
Lastly, Peterson cited firearm enhancement in relation to the California Racial Justice Act, saying that firearm enhancements are imposed on African Americans at a higher rate than the rest of the Los Angeles population. According to Keller, Peterson failed to give any examples of anyone that suffered a similar fate as himself.
“Petitioner has not alleged facts necessary to state a claim under the RJA because he fails to provide even one example of a similarly situated defendant, and he fails to cite any statistical evidence,” Keller wrote in his brief.
Keller urges the appellate court to deny the petition with prejudice, which would prevent Peterson from raising the claims again. His brief notes that the court could also deny the petition without prejudice, allowing Peterson to bring the claims up again in court.
Peterson currently serves his 10-year sentence at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, with eligibility for his first parole meeting in September 2023. He was convicted in December 2022 of first-degree assault with a firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm and possession of a concealed and unregistered firearm in a vehicle.
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