A California prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion would never have subjected herself to the torrent of public abuse she’s received if she wasn’t telling the truth about rapper Tory Lanez shooting her in the feet and wounding her in the summer of 2020.
Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott said the jury should believe Megan’s anguish — evident in her testimony last week — and her courage in fighting through it. Jurors should also provide Megan with justice by convicting Lanez, he said, citing the scorn she received online and in parts of the hip-hop community.
“Why would she lie?” the Los Angeles County DA said. “She’s been subjected to a stream of hate. For what? For coming forward as a victim of domestic violence?”
In his own closing, Lanez’s defence attorney George Mgdesyan gave jurors what he called a perfectly good reason for Megan to lie: Being victimised by Lanez was a better public story than the embarrassing, potentially career-damaging truth that she was shot by her best friend — not Lanez —in a jealous dispute over him.
“Megan Pete is a liar. She lied about everything in this case from the beginning,” Mgdesyan said. “She lied under oath here.”
He said that Lanez actually struggled with Megan’s former friend Kelsey Harris to stop her from shooting, and that a pause heard on an audio recording amid the five shots fired on the night of July 12, 2020 was evidence of that.
“He was trying to protect her,” Mgdesyan said.
Mgdesyan mocked Megan’s experience in the years that followed.
“It’s been so bad for her,” he said. “She’s won Grammys. She’s had number ones on the Billboard charts.
“You know who it’s been bad for? That man right there,” Mgdesyan said, pointing at Lanez. “He hasn’t been able to work. He’s had to go through this with his family for 2 1/2 years.”
The Canadian rapper Lanez, 30, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, has pleaded not guilty to discharging a firearm with gross negligence, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. The counts could lead to up to 22 years in prison and deportation. (HuffPost)