It’s 8:30 AM, and Tory Lanez is sitting in Los Angeles county’s criminal courthouse, also known as Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. This court appearance is supposed to serve as the conversation to determine whether or not there’s enough evidence to move forward to the pre-trial. Tory, real name Daystar Peterson, does not live in Los Angeles and thus had to fly out himself and his team.
As we already reported earlier, one of the main points discussed during today's extremely brief (as in, five-minute-long) hearing was the fact that Megan Thee Stallion went on national television, sitting down with Gayle King to discuss what exactly happened during the evening she was shot in the foot-- of course, she has pinpointed Tory as her shooter, a claim that Tory has adamantly denied. Tory's lawyers said in response to this type of highly-publicized coverage, "I’ve received numerous emails from producers of the show asking Mr. Peterson to come on and give his side of the story. Obviously, he hasn’t done that and is not going to do that. I also want to indicate that Mr. Peterson, out of concern that there might be some suggestion that he had something to do with anything being leaked, has refused to accept any discovery in this case."
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HotNewHipHop was present for the court appearance this morning and so we are providing you with the complete transcript below. Beyond the fact that Megan's CBS interview was brought up by Tory's lawyer, the DA once again brought up DJ Akademiks' contributions to the social media conversation surrounding the shooting-- although Akademiks has previously stated it was actually Roc Nation (i.e. Megan's side) that leaked the info. Nonetheless, the DA stated, "Since the last court date, it was apparent there were some leaks of part of the discovery to the members of the public. Mainly there was an individual identified as DJ Akademiks has made additional comments that he had access to the police report. Again, we’re trying to ascertain the source of the reports or the source of the leaks at this moment, but my concern obviously is the way the leaks are being disseminated. They are being extrapolated in a certain way to mislead in my opinion."
While no real progress was made during today's hearing, it’s apparent that two years later, Tory continues to fight for his proclaimed innocence.
Read the conversation between Judge David Herrirod, deputy district attorney Kathy Ta, and Tory Lanez’ lawyer Shawn Holley in full below.
We'll keep you updated at the next pre-trial date.
Judge: Number three, Daystar Peterson, 049599 coming up. Mr. Peterson he’s present in court and we have the appearance of the counsel.
Shawn Holley: Good morning, Shawn Holley, Mr. Peterson is present before the court.
Judge: Thank you. We’re here to pre-trial conference today. We haven’t had a discussion off the record regarding scheduling so I know the parties want to come back on July 28th for another pre-trial. So we will do that and we’re going to leave the September 14th date for trial as a 010 for right now as well. Do you want to add anything to the records for today?
DA: Just briefly, this is in regards to the actual trial and what court this will go to for purposes of security. Since the last court date, it was apparent there were some leaks of part of the discovery to the members of the public. Mainly there was an individual identified as DJ Akademiks has made additional comments that he had access to the police report.
Again, we’re trying to ascertain the source of the reports or the source of the leaks at this moment, but my concern obviously is the way the leaks are being disseminated. They are being extrapolated in a certain way to mislead in my opinion, the state of the evidence. I do have concerns about invested members of the public once this trial starts, trying to subvert the fair administration of justice when this does go to trial. I think it’s just for the courts’ identification that the court’s aware that these are the situations occurring behind the scenes.
Judge: Alright, Ms. Holley?
Holley: Yes, thank you. As the court is aware from our last discussion here, these communications have existed for the most part on social media, and what I’m loosely calling Black Twitter. Ms. Ta referenced someone named DJ Akademiks, somebody I never heard of until this case. I would state at this point, what is, I think, very important, is that 17 days after we were here addressing these issues, Ms. Pete, the accuser in this case, went on Gayle King on CBS Mornings, which is far beyond the Black Twitter that I was talking about last time. Mainstream, CBS, nationally aired television program, where she discussed exclusively the obligations in this case.
So she upped the ante. I’ve received numerous emails from producers of the show asking Mr. Peterson to come on and give his side of the story. Obviously, he hasn’t done that and is not going to do that. I also want to indicate that Mr. Peterson, out of concern that there might be some suggestion that he had something to do with anything being leaked, has refused to accept any discovery in this case. Ms. Ta prepared it some time ago and had his name watermarked. It’s watermarked on my copy of the discovery. I can say I’m certain that whatever exists, if it is out there, will not have my name on it or Mr. Peterson’s name on it, because he doesn’t have a copy of the discovery.
This court is well aware now from our lengthy hearing last time, this is of some interest to a particular demographic. Their social media, they’re young people, they talk about this case. But I can say with great certainty that it did not come from Mr. Peterson or from myself.
Judge: Alright, so we’ll leave the pretrial conference on for July 28th so Mr. Peterson, you’re ordered to come back here at that time. You may remain released on the bond that you posted. Anything else?
Holley: I just wonder – I know that Ms. Ta wanted to be here today, just in light of what we were discussing last time. I wonder if the court has any objection to him having 977 on that day, since we’ll just be discussing updates.
Judge: Any objection to that?
DA: I do have an objection to that. I understand Ms. Holley’s concern Mr. Peterson [inaudible] as I can see. However, given the nature of the charges, the issue we have states every single time try to address something substantive to some degree. I think it’s important he’s here for the court appearance.
Judge: I’ll order him back for the 28th of July, so we’ll see you back at that time. Thank you.
