In a courtroom that quickly turned chaotic after a trial that seethed with tension both cultural and personal, a Los Angeles jury on Friday found rapper Tory Lanez guilty of three felonies in the 2020 shooting of hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, which left her wounded with bullet fragments in her feet and could send him to prison for more than 20 years.
Lanez, who was put in handcuffs and led to jail while wearing a powder pink coat with matching pants, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read.
But moments later after the jury was escorted out, his father, Sonstar Peterson, leapt up and began shouting. “This wicked system stands judged before God almighty!” He shouted, as deputies closed in on him. He then pointed to the two prosecutors in the case and yelled “You two are evil, wicked people. You know exactly what you did.”
With considerable effort, deputies wrestled him from the courtroom, where he continued to shout in the hallway.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for roughly a day and a half before convicting the 30-year-old Canadian rapper, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. Along with aggravating factors that jurors also found true, the counts could lead to up to 22 years in prison and deportation when he’s sentenced on Jan. 25.