Tory Lanez legal team claim the Toronto rapper didn’t receive a fair trial after the judge “erroneously allowed” an Instagram post into evidence.
Tory Lanez has filed a motion for a retrial with a newly restructured legal team after being found guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion, according to Rolling Stone.
His attorneys, Jose Baez and Matthew Barhoma, filed the paperwork, claiming several mistakes surrounding the evidence barred Tory from having a fair trial. One of these mistakes is the infamous comment on The Shade Room that shut down rumors that Megan Thee Stallion’s former best friend Kelsey Nicole shot her.
THE SHADE ROOM POST
Tory’s team stated that the rapper’s social media handler wrote the comment. Still, prosecutors only introduced it as evidence mid-trial and they claimed the judge should’ve blocked the response into the trial, especially since the defense was that Kelsey fired the gun. “The court erred on numerous questions of law in allowing the People to introduce this post, depriving defendant of a fair trial,” the new motion reads. “The only acceptable remedy for this miscarriage of justice is a new trial.”
Prosecutors only introduced it as evidence mid-trial, and the defense claimed that Kelsey fired the gun. Tory Lanez’s legal team accused prosecutors of painting the rapper as a “gun-wielding career criminal” by introducing a shirtless photo where a tattoo of a gun is shown on his chest. The team argued that California law (AB 2799) went into effect nine days after his trial, preventing “creative expression” into evidence as it might create racial bias. His team argued 2Pac had the same AK-47 tattoo on his chest “as a symbol of Black unity and the fight against racism.”
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His team argued that Tory Lanez should’ve been able to testify without impeachment evidence because AB 2799 already passed through California legislature. David Kenner, who represented Suge Knight in the 90s, was previously added to his legal team, but Barz and Barhoma will now lead Tory’s bid for a retrial.
