Prosecutors Reject Tory Lanez’s Claim That Megan Thee Stallion Gun Is Missing: ‘Demonstrably False’
The singer's attorneys have argued on appeal that key evidence has vanished, but prosecutors say that "troubling" accusation is very clearly false.
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California prosecutors are flatly rejecting claims made by Tory Lanez’s legal team that the gun he allegedly used to shoot Megan Thee Stallion is “missing,” calling the accusations about vanished evidence “demonstrably false” and “troubling.”
In a brief filed Monday (Nov. 18) in a California appeals court, the state attorney general’s office fired back at a recent so-called habeas corpus petition filed by Lanez’s attorneys — one of several forms of appeal he has filed seeking to overturn his felony convictions over the 2020 shooting.
In their brief last month, Lanez’s lawyers claimed that key pieces of evidence — the gun used in the shooting and bullet fragments removed from Megan’s foot — had not been made available to defense attorneys, violating the singer’s constitutional right to due process.
But in this week’s response, the government said that simply wasn’t true.
“Without providing any documentary evidence or a declaration from either habeas counsel or a custodian of evidence for the Los Angeles Police Department, petitioner simply asserts that the firearm and bullet fragments have not been preserved,” prosecutors wrote. “Petitioner’s failure … is especially troubling in this case because the factual assertions are demonstrably false.”
The filing cited a sworn declaration by an LAPD officer that the department “still has custody of the firearm and the firearm’s magazine, as well as the casings and fragments.”
Attorneys for Lanez did not immediately return a request for comment.
Lanez (Daystar Peterson) was convicted in December 2022 on three felony counts over the violent 2020 incident, in which he shot at the feet of Megan (real name Megan Pete) during an argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. According to prosecutors, when Megan got out of the vehicle and began walking away, Lanez shouted “Dance, bitch!” and fired a gun at her feet. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Lanez has appealed his convictions to California’s Court of Appeal, arguing that the judge allowed improper testimony and evidence, resulting in a “a miscarriage of justice.” He’s also filed two so-called habeas corpus petitions, a more drastic legal method for challenging a criminal conviction.
In the latest petition, Lanez’s attorney claimed his right to due process had been violated by the government’s “failure to produce and preserve evidence.” They claimed that because the gun and the fragments were missing, they were “unable to conduct further testing” that might help prove his innocence, like searching for fingerprints or DNA of other possible shooters.
In Monday’s response, prosecutors argued that not only was the evidence available for re-testing but that doing so would not help Lanez overturn his conviction.
“The prosecution did not even rely on the DNA results in arguing petitioner’s guilt,” the state wrote. “Under these circumstances, it is inconceivable that DNA testing could undermine the entire prosecution case and point unerringly to innocence or reduced culpability, as is required to establish a claim of actual innocence.”
