Tory Lanez is currently appealing his conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion — and one theory that was a major part of that effort hit a major snag this week when it was debunked.
On Monday (November 18), the State of California responded to Lanez’s appeal, which claimed in part that the gun used in Megan’s shooting, and associated bullet fragments, have gone missing, preventing him from having further tests conducted.
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The state’s response includes a declaration from the Senior Property Officer of the LAPD’s Evidence and Property Management Division.
“[T]he firearm, the firearm magazine, and all the bullet casings and the bullet fragments…are still in the Los Angeles Police Department’s custody,” it reads.
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As a result, the state declared Lanez’s theory “unsupported” and “demonstrably false.”
The appellate court is currently considering Tory’s petition along with his main appeal and an additional petition about a post-trial declaration from his driver Jaquan Smith, who claims to have seen Megan’s friend Kelsey Harris holding the gun during the shooting.
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Tory’s legal team Unite the People — a non-profit organization of which the rapper is a board member — accused prosecutors of a “failure to produce and preserve evidence” and called for his 10-year prison sentence to be vacated.
Tory has claimed that DNA evidence played a key role in his conviction, but during trial, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott specifically stated during the trial that DNA was not part of the “bucket of evidence” used by prosecutors to prove his guilt.
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Megan’s lawyer Alex Spiro also questioned why a nonprofit legal organization such as Unite the People is working on Lanez’s case, saying: “There are lots of people in jail that need help who tell the truth and who are innocent and deserve to be freed. I’d rather they spend their time on that than nonsense like this.”
Unite the People are also responsible for spreading the unfounded rumors that Tory Lanez had been found innocent by an appeals court.
In an Instagram post, the group falsely claimed: “The Appellate Court JUST ‘ACCEPTED TORY LANEZ ACTUAL INNOCENCE CLAIM!!!’”
This was quickly debunked by reporter Meghann Cuniff, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “No, the appellate court has not declared Lanez ‘innocent.’ Not even close.”
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Cuniff, who has diligently covered the high-profile and often contentious case, then explained: “All the court did was consolidate Lanez’s habeas petition and his actual appeal. They haven’t ruled on anything yet and it’s pathetic that this trash website amplifies outright lies, even when the court document is right there staring everyone in the face.”
