Tory Lanez has lost what legal experts say was his last realistic chance to overturn his conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion, after the California Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. The Canadian rapper, born Daystar Peterson, is serving a 10‑year prison sentence for assault with a semiautomatic firearm, possession of a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence over the July 2020 incident in the Hollywood Hills.
In November, a three‑judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal had already rejected his arguments that the trial was unfair and that prosecutors committed misconduct, finding no “reversible error” in the way the case was handled.
Lanez’s legal team then petitioned the state’s highest court to review that appellate ruling, but justices declined to take the case, leaving the conviction and 10‑year term intact. Lanez has consistently asserted his innocence and claimed there was not enough evidence to prove he was the shooter, but both the jury in 2022 and the subsequent appeal courts have upheld Megan Thee Stallion’s testimony and the prosecution’s case.
The Supreme Court’s decision does not change his sentence and means any further legal moves would have to go through federal courts, such as a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court or a separate habeas challenge, which are considered long shots.
The ruling comes more than three years after the guilty verdict, during which time Lanez has mounted multiple post‑trial efforts to get a new trial or a reduced sentence, all unsuccessful. Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete, has largely avoided public comment on the latest decisions, while prosecutors have pointed to the series of failed appeals as confirmation that the original trial was properly handled.
Lanez is currently incarcerated at California Men’s Colony, where reports say he was previously hospitalized after being stabbed multiple times in an incident inside the prison.For more detail on the high court’s decision and what legal options, if any, remain, see Billboard’s breakdown of the California Supreme Court rejecting Tory Lanez’s appeal.
