Newly Unsealed Emails Show Former Lawyers Warned Tory Lanez Against Blaming Kelsey Harris for Shooting Megan Thee Stallion
According to newly unsealed emails, Tory Lanez's initial attorney, Shawn Holley, cautioned the "Say It" rapper against pursuing the strategy of placing blame to Megan Thee Stallion's former best friend, Kelsey Harris, for the shooting incident that occurred in August 2020 involving the "Body" emcee.
A new report from Legal Affairs & Trials with Meghann Cuniff, stated that Lanez, who was ultimately found guilty last December of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, possession of a concealed, unregistered firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm, was warned that this approach was not “ a viable strategy.”
In an email dated Nov. 21, 2022, made public after Lanez waived his attorney-client privilege, Holley told Lanez, born Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson, “As we discussed on Saturday, I am not comfortable advancing the ‘Kelsie Defense’, primarily because I don’t find it to be a viable strategy.” Holley notably misspelled Harris’s first name.
Lanez’s former lawyer also added that she didn’t believe her position would change unless the rapper’s driver, Jaquan Smith, “is persuasive in the preview of his testimony and you are persuasive under mock cross-examination.”
However, Holley made it clear that “Even if both of those benchmarks (Quan/you) were to be satisfied, I am still not certain that I would be willing to go forward,” expressing that “In light of that, you should discuss with George [Mgdesyan,] his willingness and ability to move forward with that defense and if he can do so by the trial date.”
Lanez’s legal team would go on to argue that on the night of July 12, 2020, a little after 4:25 a.m., Harris fired five rounds at Megan from a semi-automatic firearm as the “Captain Hook” rapper walked away from Lanez’s Escalade following a heated argument.
The Canadian-born rapper is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 7. Prosecutors are asking for 13 years in prison.
