Why Is Tory Lanez in Jail? Charges, Sentence, and Appeal Status

Tory Lanez, the Canadian rapper whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, is in jail because a Los Angeles jury convicted him in December 2022 of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet during an argument in the Hollywood Hills in July 2020. A judge sentenced him to ten years in state prison in August 2023, and every appeal since has failed. He is currently held at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.¹

What Happened the Night of the Shooting

On July 12, 2020, Peterson and Megan Thee Stallion (Megan Pete) were leaving a party at Kylie Jenner’s home along with Megan’s friend Kelsey Harris and Peterson’s bodyguard. An argument broke out inside the SUV. Megan testified that after she demanded to be let out and began walking away, Peterson yelled “Dance, bitch!” and opened fire with a handgun.² Bullets struck both of her feet. Surgeons at Cedars-Sinai removed fragments from her heels; the shots missed bone and tendon but left permanent scarring.³

Megan initially told responding officers she had been cut by broken glass. She later said she lied because she feared getting “in more trouble” during a charged moment, testifying that the shooting happened amid the summer protests following George Floyd’s death and she did not feel comfortable cooperating with police.⁴ Peterson was arrested that night at a traffic stop for carrying a concealed firearm.⁵

The Charges Against Him

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office charged Peterson in October 2020 with felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. Prosecutors later added a third count: discharging a firearm with gross negligence.⁵ On December 23, 2022, after roughly seven hours of deliberation, a jury found him guilty on all three counts and found true the additional allegations that he personally used a firearm and inflicted great bodily injury.⁶

How Prosecutors Proved the Case

The nine-day trial began on December 12, 2022. Megan testified she saw Peterson pointing a 9mm pistol at her and felt him fire. She also alleged he later offered her a million dollars to stay quiet.⁷

The rest of the prosecution’s case leaned on physical and recorded evidence. A jailhouse phone call captured Peterson apologizing to Kelsey Harris hours after the shooting, saying he was “too drunk” and didn’t know what was happening. He also sent Megan an apologetic text message while she was hospitalized.² Harris had texted Megan’s bodyguard shortly after the gunfire: “Help Tory shot Meg 911.”⁸ Surveillance audio picked up the shots, and X-rays showed four metallic bullet fragments in Megan’s feet.⁷

Peterson’s defense attorney, George Mgdesyan, argued Peterson was “not the shooter” and that Harris had fired the gun. Under that theory, gunshot residue on Peterson’s hands came from trying to wrestle the weapon away from her. Peterson did not testify.² Harris herself was a complicated witness. In a September 2022 interview with prosecutors she had described Peterson firing five shots, but on the stand, under a grant of use immunity, she said she didn’t remember the night clearly and called her earlier statements “not accurate.” The judge let prosecutors play the full 80-minute recorded interview for the jury.⁹

The Ten-Year Sentence

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford sentenced Peterson on August 8, 2023. The maximum exposure was 22 years and eight months, and prosecutors had asked for 13 years, citing a lack of remorse.¹⁰ Under California law, courts generally impose a middle-length term unless aggravating factors justify more. Judge Herriford identified two aggravating factors, specifically noting the victim was “particularly vulnerable,” and weighed mitigating factors including Peterson’s childhood trauma, alcohol issues, and mental health.¹¹

Prosecutors also cited what they called Peterson’s post-shooting “campaign to humiliate and re-traumatize the victim” through “weaponized misinformation” on social media.¹¹ In April 2022, before trial, Judge Herriford had already found Peterson violated a pre-trial protective order through social media posts directed at Megan and ordered him taken into custody with bail set at $350,000.¹²

Peterson addressed the court, describing Megan as “someone I still care for dearly to this day” and asking for “redemption and a second chance.” Megan did not attend, but a written statement was read for her: “He not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma.”¹⁰

He received credit for 305 days already served: 231 days in jail, 40 days under house arrest, and 34 days of good-conduct credit.¹³ As a Canadian citizen, he also faces potential deportation after release.²

Why the Conviction Has Stuck on Appeal

Peterson’s legal team pursued several routes to overturn the verdict. His direct appeal argued the trial judge wrongly allowed testimony about the emotional impact of the shooting, that his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to properly object, and that prosecutors engaged in misconduct during closing arguments.¹⁴

On November 12, 2025, a three-judge panel of the California 2nd District Court of Appeal denied the appeal in a 46-page ruling and upheld all three convictions.¹⁵ The same court had already rejected two habeas corpus petitions filed in 2023 and 2024. In one of them, Peterson’s attorneys argued the firearm had gone missing from evidence; the court cited a sworn statement from an LAPD officer confirming the gun, magazine, and ballistics evidence remain in police custody.¹⁴

Peterson then asked the California Supreme Court to take the case. On February 25, 2026, the state’s highest court declined, effectively exhausting his state-level options.¹⁶

Where He Is Now

Peterson is incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. He was moved there after a violent incident at his previous facility. On May 12, 2025, while housed at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, he was stabbed by fellow inmate Santino Casio, who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder.¹⁷ Peterson sustained roughly 16 stab wounds to his head, face, torso, and back from a homemade weapon. Both lungs collapsed, and he was airlifted to a hospital and placed on a ventilator before eventually recovering.¹⁸ As of mid-2026, no criminal charges have been filed against Casio for the attack.¹⁹

In April 2026, Peterson filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the warden, and guards at the Tehachapi facility. The suit alleges officials knowingly housed him with a violent inmate, were deliberately indifferent to the danger his celebrity status posed, and responded slowly to the attack. It also claims prison staff illegally seized his songbooks of unpublished lyrics while he was hospitalized and refused to return them.¹⁹ CDCR spokesperson Ike Dodson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.¹⁷ In May 2026, a federal judge granted Peterson a temporary restraining order against a correctional officer at the California Men’s Colony after his attorney alleged the officer threatened to move him to a more dangerous housing unit and referenced the stabbing in a threatening way.²⁰

With his state appeals exhausted, the federal lawsuit and the restraining order are Peterson’s active legal matters. He has continued recording from prison, releasing an album called “Peterson” in March 2026 that he said was made entirely behind bars.²¹ His earlier “Prison Tapes” series, launched in July 2024, ended after a cell raid in which officials confiscated his recording equipment, saying such devices are prohibited.²²

1
KESQ. CA Supreme Court Won’t Review Case of Rapper Tory Lanez
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Rolling Stone. Tory Lanez Trial Verdict: Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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BBC News. Tory Lanez: Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Case
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Houston Public Media. Megan Thee Stallion Takes the Stand in Tory Lanez Trial
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NPR. Tory Lanez Assault Trial: Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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ET Online. Tory Lanez Assault Trial Timeline
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XXL Magazine. Tory Lanez Trial Evidence: Texts, Megan Thee Stallion X-Rays
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ABC News. Takeaways From Tory Lanez Trial
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Variety. Kelsey Harris Testimony in Megan Thee Stallion Shooting
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New York Times. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Sentence
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NPR. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion
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CBS News Los Angeles. Rapper Tory Lanez Arrested for Social Media Posts
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Vibe. Tory Lanez Prison: Megan Thee Stallion Time Served
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Rolling Stone. Tory Lanez Habeas Petitions Denied
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Los Angeles Times. Tory Lanez Megan Thee Stallion Denied Appeal Verdict
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XXL Magazine. California Supreme Court Tory Lanez Shooting Conviction
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U.S. News & World Report. Rapper Tory Lanez Sues California Prison System
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The Guardian. Tory Lanez Lawsuit California Prison Stabbing
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Billboard. Tory Lanez Sues California Prison System
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USA Today. Tory Lanez Restraining Order Against Prison Guard
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Billboard. Tory Lanez Thanks Chris Brown for Financial Support for New Album
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BET. Tory Lanez Breaks Silence After Jail Cell Raid