Tory Lanez has officially been sentenced to 10 years behind bars in his shooting case involving Megan Thee Stallion.
Law & Crime reporter Meghann Cuniff tweeted live from the courtroom on Tuesday (August 8), confirming the Toronto artist’s fate.
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“Just in: Tory Lanez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion,” she wrote. “Tory spoke for several minutes. He said he still cares about Megan. He called her ‘someone I still care for dearly to this day’ regardless of what she may think of him. He said ‘the victim’s my friend.’ He talked about bonding with her over the loss of their mothers.”
She continued: “‘We both lost our mothers. We would sit there and drink, and drink until we got numb,’ Tory Lanez said of Megan Thee Stallion. About the shooting: ‘I said some very immature things that I shouldn’t have said. I revealed some secrets I shouldn’t have revealed,’ Lanez said.”
Tory spoke for several minutes. He said he still cares about Megan. He called her "someone I still care for dearly to this day" regardless of what she may think of him.
He said "the victim's my friend." He talked about bonding with her over the loss of their mothers.— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) August 8, 2023
About the shooting: "I said some very immature things that I shouldn't have said. I revealed some secrets I shouldn't have revealed," Lanez said.
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) August 8, 2023
The prosecution was seeking a 13-year sentence, while Tory’s lawyers asked for the lower term of three years, provided their request for probation and enrollment into a residential substance abuse program are denied.
The sentencing played out over two days in Los Angeles court. On Monday (August 7), a scathing written statement from Megan Thee Stallion was read aloud by District Attorney Kathy Ta.
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In it, Megan blasted Tory for spinning false narratives about the shooting, which left her with bullet fragments in both feet, and making light of her “trauma” in subsequent music releases. As a result, she said she has “not experienced a single day of peace” since the shooting.
“He not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma,” Megan wrote, per Cuniff. “He tried to position himself as a victim and set out to destroy my character and my soul.
“He lied to anyone that would listen and paid bloggers to disseminate false information about the case on social media. He released music videos and songs to damage my character and continue his crusade.”
The 28-year-old also criticized him for blaming the incident on his childhood trauma and alcoholism, which his legal team recently attempted to use to secure their client probation and a place in a drug treatment program, keeping him out of prison.
“At first, he tried to deny the shooting ever happened. Then, he attempted to place the blame on my former best friend,” she continued. “In his tantrum of lies, he’s blamed the system, blamed the press and, as of late, he’s using his childhood trauma to shield himself and avoid culpability.”
Megan additionally cited Lanez’s lack of remorse and said she wants his sentence to be a message for every woman who has suffered violence.
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“For once, the defendant must be forced to face the full consequences of his heinous actions and face justice,” she wrote.
Herriford said on Monday that he believes Lanez’s actions after the shooting — his social media posts and harassment of Megan — are a major aggravating factor in his sentence.
