A recent ruling by a three-justice panel from the Second District Court of Appeal has denied Tory Lanez’s petitions to introduce new evidence in an effort to overturn his convictions related to the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. The panel, consisting of Justices Lee Smalley Edmon, Anne H. Egerton, and Rashida A. Adams, rejected two habeas corpus petitions filed by Lanez’s legal team. These petitions sought either an evidentiary hearing or a new sentencing based on evidence not presented in his 2022 trial.
The contested evidence includes statements from Lanez’s driver, Jauquan Smith, who was not called as a witness during the original trial, and a recent statement from Kelsey Harris’s bodyguard, Bradie James. Lanez’s attorneys argued that Smith had provided an affidavit asserting he saw a gun in Harris’s hands before the shooting, although he did not witness the actual firing. Additionally, James reportedly overheard Harris admitting to the shooting.
In their decision, the justices concluded that Smith’s statements were “inadmissible” and criticized Lanez’s legal team for choosing not to call Smith as a trial witness. They also addressed the timing of James’s statements, which were not submitted until nearly a year after they were obtained, noting that the delay was unjustified and rendered the petition untimely.
The panel’s ruling emphasized that Lanez’s petitions did not meet the criteria for habeas relief and failed to establish an exception for the delay in filing. Although these petitions have been denied, another appeal concerning the information presented to the jury during the trial is still pending, with oral arguments scheduled for mid-August.
Lanez is currently serving a 10-year sentence at the California Men’s Colony prison. His transfer there followed an incident where he was attacked at another facility.