Musician Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday for the shooting of fellow artist Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was found guilty in December 2022 of three felonies related to the shooting, which left his fellow artist injured in the foot.
Prosecutors had called for the 30-year-old Canadian rapper to be sentenced to 13 years in prison. Lanez’s defense team had called for probation and a residential drug treatment program that would help the artist deal with alcoholism, which they say he developed to cope with childhood trauma.
Lanez has been imprisoned since his conviction in December.
On Monday, Megan Thee Stallion had testified in court that the shooting had left her devastated. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” she said in a written statement that was read in court. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
Jose Baez, Lanez’s attorney told reporters after court on Monday the rapper maintains his innocence and his incarceration will be detrimental to the non-profit groups and individuals he supports financially. Baez had called for Lanez to be sentenced to a yearlong residential treatment program to deal with alcohol abuse issues.
Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, had given an emotional statement about his son losing his mother at age 11. “I don’t think anybody ever gets over that. But his music became his outlet.”
The shooting occurred in July 2020, as the artists, a friend and Lanez’s bodyguard left a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood home.
