Tory Lanez Evidence: Testimony, Forensics, and Post-Trial Claims

The evidence in the Tory Lanez case — the material a Los Angeles jury weighed before convicting the Canadian rapper of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020 — combined eyewitness testimony, digital messages, a recorded jailhouse call, medical imaging, gunshot residue, and a partly inconclusive DNA analysis. Prosecutors used that mix to secure a guilty verdict on three felony counts in December 2022 and a ten-year sentence the following August.¹² Since then, Lanez’s team has continued to fight the conviction, most recently by alleging a Brady violation tied to a hospital pathology report.

What Prosecutors Put in Front of the Jury

The trial took place in Los Angeles County Superior Court before Judge David J. Herriford, with Deputy District Attorneys Alexander Bott and Kathy Ta prosecuting. Trial counsel for Lanez was George Mgdesyan.³

Megan Thee Stallion’s Testimony

Megan took the stand and told the jury she saw Lanez point a gun at her and fire, wounding both of her feet. She testified that after the shooting Lanez offered her and her friend Kelsey Harris $1 million each to stay quiet, and that he pleaded with her not to report the incident because he was on probation.⁴ LAPD detective Ryan Stogner testified that Lanez shouted “Dance, bitch, dance” as he fired.¹

Megan also acknowledged that when police first arrived she told them she had stepped on broken glass. She testified she recanted that story because she feared how officers would respond to a scene involving a firearm.⁵

Kelsey Harris: The Recorded Interview Versus the Witness Stand

Harris, the only other civilian eyewitness in the SUV, was granted use immunity, though perjury was not covered.⁶ In a September 2022 recorded interview with prosecutors, she had corroborated Megan’s account, including that Lanez threatened to shoot her and reached toward the center console before firing at Megan.⁷

At trial she recanted almost everything. Harris repeatedly answered “I honestly don’t remember,” citing alcohol, anxiety, postpartum depression, and a death in her family, and she told the jury that many of her earlier recorded statements were “not accurate.” Asked directly whether Lanez shot her, she invoked the Fifth Amendment.⁸

Because of the contradictions, Judge Herriford let prosecutors play Harris’s full 80-minute recorded interview for the jury.⁹ The defense tried to point to Harris as the actual shooter. She called that accusation “ridiculous.”⁶

Text Messages and the Jailhouse Call

Within minutes of the shooting, Harris sent Megan’s bodyguard, Justin Edison, a text: “Help Tory shot Meg 911.” Prosecutors put that message in front of the jury as a near-contemporaneous account from the only other witness. Harris testified she did not know why she sent it and called it an “assumption.”⁴⁸

Lanez’s own words also came in. On the night of the shooting he texted Megan: “Meg…I know u prolly never gone to talk to me again…But I genuinely want u to know I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart…I was just too drunk…None the less, shit should have never happened and I can’t change what I did. I just feel horrible.” The defense told the jury the apology referred to Lanez having slept with both Megan and Harris, not to a shooting.¹⁰

Five hours after the shooting, from jail, Lanez called Harris. The recording was played for jurors. He did not explicitly confess, but he repeatedly apologized and blamed intoxication: “I would’ve never did that shit if I wasn’t that drunk, bruh, you feel me?” Prosecutor Bott told the jury it would take “mental gymnastics” to read the call as anything other than an apology for the shooting.¹¹

Medical Imaging and Physical Evidence

Dr. Lee Haruno, the chief orthopedic resident at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who assisted in Megan’s surgery, walked the jury through X-rays showing bullet fragments in the backs of both heels. He described “dozens of specks” of metallic fragments on the images and testified that some were left in place because attempting to extract such small pieces would likely cause more harm. He said the remaining metal could plausibly cause persistent pain. Megan testified she has continuing pain and loss of feeling and described nerve damage, though Dr. Haruno said he did not identify nerve damage in his own evaluation.¹²⁴

The firearm was recovered at Lanez’s feet at the scene.¹³ Gunshot residue was found on both Lanez and Harris.⁹

The Neighbor, 911 Calls, and an Instagram Comment

Sean Kelly, a neighbor, testified he saw “muzzle flashes” and identified Lanez as the person firing. He also acknowledged he had initially thought one of the women in the group might have been the shooter.⁴ Prosecutors also introduced two 911 calls from neighbors reporting gunfire and surveillance video from a nearby home that captured the audio of the shots.¹⁰

An Instagram comment from Lanez’s verified account, responding “that’s not true” to a post on The Shade Room that claimed Harris was the shooter, was also placed before the jury. The defense argued the comment was posted by Lanez’s content creator, Joshua Farias, and said it had not been given adequate time to investigate the comment’s origin.¹⁴

Where the Evidence Was Contested

The DNA analysis gave both sides material to work with. LAPD criminalist Randy Zepeda testified that DNA from four males was found on the gun’s magazine and that Lanez was not among them. Testing on the firearm itself was reported as “inconclusive,” meaning Lanez could neither be confirmed nor excluded as having handled the weapon.⁴ The defense’s forensic scientist, Marc Scott Taylor, agreed Lanez’s DNA was absent from the magazine and told the jury he would have expected a clearer profile from someone who pulled the trigger five times. Taylor also testified the DNA mixture on the gun included the profile of an unidentified woman.¹⁵

The Verdict the Evidence Produced

On December 23, 2022, the jury convicted Lanez on all three felony counts: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.¹ Judge Herriford sentenced him on August 8, 2023, to ten years in state prison, with credit for 305 days already served.²

New Evidence Claims After Conviction

Lanez has cycled through several legal teams and strategies since the verdict, and much of the post-conviction fight has centered on evidence — either evidence the defense says was never presented or evidence it says was never disclosed.

Two Witnesses the Jury Never Heard

Lanez’s appellate team, led by attorney Crystal Morgan, filed two habeas corpus petitions totaling 135 pages that sought to introduce accounts from two men.

The first was Jauquan Smith, Lanez’s driver, who submitted a statement claiming he saw Harris holding the gun. The California Court of Appeals found the statement inadmissible because it did not meet the state Code of Civil Procedure’s requirements for unsworn statements, and noted that trial counsel Mgdesyan had made an “affirmative decision” not to call Smith, having concluded his testimony would not help and would duplicate other evidence.

The second was Bradlie James, who worked security for Harris. In an affidavit, James alleged Harris told him she fired the gun three times in the air and that Lanez pushed her arm down, causing two more shots. The appellate court rejected the affidavit as untimely, filed 11 months after it was dated, on the eve of oral argument, with no justification for the delay.

A separate habeas argument challenged the DNA testing methodology at trial as violating industry standards. The court rejected that claim for lack of supporting documentation. Both habeas petitions were denied on August 12, 2025.¹⁶

The Alleged Brady Violation

The most recent evidence claim centers on a Cedars-Sinai pathology report dated July 14, 2020, which Morgan says was never turned over to the defense. According to the defense, the report indicates that a hospital security employee collected an evidence bag containing a “foreign body” from the medical facility. The document does not explicitly name the patient or describe the item, though it lists Megan Thee Stallion’s date of birth.

Morgan has argued that the prosecution’s failure to disclose the report constitutes a Brady violation, meaning prosecutors withheld evidence that could have been favorable to the defense. The defense says it plans to include the allegation in further filings to the California Supreme Court. Legal experts quoted in coverage of the claim have noted that succeeding on a Brady claim requires showing not only that evidence was withheld but that it was favorable to the defense and could have changed the outcome, which is a high bar. Lanez’s team has separately sought a pardon or clemency from the governor of California.¹⁷

Where Things Stand

The California Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction on November 12, 2025, in a 46-page opinion, with a three-justice panel finding the evidence “more than sufficient to support the jury’s finding that Peterson personally inflicted great bodily injury on” Megan Thee Stallion.¹⁸¹⁹²⁰ The firearm remains in LAPD custody, and defense requests to access the gun and bullet fragments for retesting have been denied.²¹

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Vulture. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Explainer
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New York Times. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Sentence
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PBS NewsHour. Tory Lanez Gets 10 Years in Prison for Shooting Megan Thee Stallion
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ABC News. Takeaways Tory Lanez Trial
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NPR. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion
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Variety. Kelsey Harris Testimony Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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Rolling Stone. Megan Thee Stallion Kelsey Harris Testifies Tory Lanez Threatened Her
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ABC7. Megan Thee Stallion Kelsey Harris Testimony
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NPR. Tory Lanez Assault Trial Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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XXL Magazine. Tory Lanez Trial Evidence Texts Megan Thee Stallion X-Rays
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Rolling Stone. Tory Lanez Phone Call Megan Thee Stallion Friend
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Business Insider. Surgeon Removed Bullet Fragments Megan Thee Stallions Feet Still Inside
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Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Daystar Peterson aka Tory Lanez Sentenced 10 Years in Prison
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Audacy. Tory Lanez Files Motion for New Trial in Stallion Case
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Vibe. No DNA Gun Magazine Tory Lanez Criminal Trial
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Los Angeles Times. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion New Evidence Denied
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NBC News. Tory Lanez Plans Appeal Alleging Evidence May Not Turned Trial
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NBC Los Angeles. Tory Lanez Appeals Court Conviction
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Billboard. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Shooting CA Court Rejects
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KESQ. CA Supreme Court Wont Review Case of Rapper Tory Lanez
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BET. Tory Lanez Appeals Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Conviction Citing DNA Evidence Issues