Judge bars Tory Lanez from contacting Megan Thee Stallion for 5 years – Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff

A judge on Thursday barred imprisoned rapper Tory Lanez from contacting Megan Thee Stallion “directly or indirectly” for the next five years as part of a civil restraining order Megan testified would protect her from ongoing harassment.“I haven’t been at peace since I’ve been shot, and I’m just tired of being harassed,” the 29-year-old rapper told a Los Angeles County judge via video from her home in Florida.Lanez, legal name Daystar Peterson, is serving a 10-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him of three felonies for shooting Megan and injuring her feet after a party at reality star Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home in July 2020.Megan’s lawyer said Thursday that a protective order in place before trial expired, and a 10-year criminal protective order should have been issued when Lanez was sentenced, but it wasn’t.Megan, legal name Megan Pete, can’t currently obtain a criminal protective order because she described her relationship with Lanez as “friends with benefits” instead of a dating relationship, her lawyer said. The civil restraining order request includes a declaration from “domestic violence prevention organizations that were concerned with this gap in the law where people like Ms. Pete are without protection in criminal courts,” said Mari Henderson, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, in Los Angeles.“It is illogical that she would have less protection now that Mr. Peterson has been found and convicted guilty,” Henderson said in court.Lanez, who did not attend the hearing in person or remotely, is eligible for parole in September 2029, and Megan testified she fears he could try to contact her after he’s released.“I feel like maybe he’ll shoot me again, and maybe this — maybe this time I won’t make it,” Megan said, choking back tears. She said she hasn’t attended therapy lately “because I’ve been feeling kind of, like, hopeless about this whole thing.”“No matter how much somebody tells me I need to get past it or it’s going to be OK, it just seems like I have to relive it every day. The person who shot me won’t let me forget it. I barely leave my house. I leave my house for work when I have to,” Megan continued.She said she never had anxiety before she was shot but now, “I’m just a nervous wreck all the time.”Henderson asked why she wants a restraining order, and Megan answered, “Because even from behind bars, he won’t leave me alone.”She thought Lanez would have “a moment to repent” in jail and realize “what he did was wrong.”“But even from behind bars, he still is showing that he’s an angry person, and I’m scared that even when he gets out of jail, he’s going to still be upset with me,” Megan testified. “He keeps showing me that he can get to me like he won’t give me a day of peace. And I feel like, for a fact, when he gets out of jail, it’s going to get worse.”Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Bloom said he believes “there’s ample evidence of harassing conduct dating back to at least July 2020.”“The facts in this matter show both unlawful violence, credible threats of violence and a knowing and unlawful course of conduct that seriously harasses the petitioner and serves no legitimate purpose,” Bloom said.The order is effective until midnight on Jan. 9, 2030. It prohibits Lanez from being within 100 yards of Megan and says he can’t contact her “either directly or indirectly, in any way” and specifically bans all types of communications and other electronic means.”In their petition, Megan’s lawyers cited a music video Lanez made to his song “CAP” in which he’s a butcher chopping horse legs, then stands outside a courthouse, grabs a microphone from a reporter and raps, “Bitches tryna end me so I cannot be polite.”Lanez’s lawyer, Michael Hayden, told reporters after court that Lanez “shouldn’t be doing stuff like — yeah, that was a little harsh.”“I guess you could call it speech, because he was expressing himself through art. … It’s something that he did construct, and I don’t think he’ll do something like that again,” said Hayden, a lawyer with the legal services group United the People, of which Lanez is a board member.“I can’t speak for him,” Hayden continued. “I think that nothing like that is going to come about. I think he wants to mind his business. She wants to mind her business.”Thursday’s hearing was the first public airing of a case that began when Megan’s lawyers filed for a restraining order on Dec. 17 and said Lanez continues to harass Megan from prison, including through social media commentators such as Milagro Cooper. Megan is suing Cooper in federal court in Florida for defamation, promotion of an altered sexual depiction, intentional infliction of emotional distress and cyberstalkingHenderson said Thursday that Cooper has a “business relationship” with Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, and said a subpoena revealed several payments from him to her. Lanez also discussed Cooper in phone calls from prison obtained by Megan’s lawyers, and Lanez approved a statement about the defamation lawsuit and directed his lawyers to represent her.Megan’s lawyers filed transcripts of calls from Oct. 30 and Nov. 7 between Lanez and Unite the People CEO Ceasar McDowell.Henderson also said in court that Lanez “had a contraband cell phone while he was in prison.”“A secret cell phone that bans us from being able to hear any recording or monitored activity, which begs the question of what it is that he’s directing through that secret cell phone,” Henderson told Judge Bloom.Hayden said the request was not about violence “even though there may have been four and a half years ago,” it’s about “prior restraint” of Lanez’s right to freedom of speech.“There’s no evidence or threat of current or future harm to the petitioner,” Hayden said. “He has not contacted her and does not want to contact her. He does not even want to harm her.”Hayden also said Lanez does not want to contact “these third-party bloggers.” He said bloggers such as Cooper “have an independent mind of their own.”“If they want to be pro-Tory, they’re pro-Tory. If they want to be pro-Megan, they’re pro-Megan. That’s not any cohesive control,” Hayden said.Hayden said there isn’t violence “today, and there won’t be tomorrow.”He added, “as far as I know,” and Judge Bloom said, “That would sort of underscore the concern here.”Hayden referred to Lanez’s actions before trial as “all the junk that happened,” which drew a sharp response from Henderson.“That is not junk. That is Ms. Pete’s life, and what happened to her from the time of the shooting to the time of today has been incredibly traumatizing,” Henderson said. “She’s endured more than just smear campaigns,” as people questioned “whether she was even a victim at all.”Henderson gave Megan “the last word,” and Megan told the judge Hayden had referred to her “trauma” “as junk.”“That’s what they have been doing online. They have made people question was I shot at all?” Megan said. “They have tried to create a chaotic environment for me and have everybody attacking me.”She said she knows that “being a public figure comes with hearing a lot of people from all over the world talk about you.”“I’m not trying to take anyone’s freedom of speech away,” she said. “It’s the man that is orchestrating it. He’s the person that shot me, and he’s orchestrating people.”Hayden cross-examined Megan only briefly, and he focused on the fact that she lives in Florida because he argued to Bloom that Los Angeles County isn’t the proper venue for a restraining order. Henderson said they’re “not contesting that Ms. Pete is a Florida resident.”“The basis for the venue is, as I stated, where the physical injury occurred,” Henderson said. “Ms. Pete is currently a Florida resident, and that’s not something we have contested.”Judge Bloom said one issue is the “lack of evidence” about recent conduct, but he said older conduct shortly after Lanez shot Megan is enough.He cited “a ripple effect” from violence.“In some cases, it may be small ripples that go away with time, and in other cases, it could be ripples that grow with time,” the judge said. “Ms. Pete’s testimony here seems to make clear that the ripple effect here has been significant, whether or not it is then amplified or caused by these other events that are described.”The judge recessed court and went to his chambers before issuing his final ruling. He said “many facts” exist, including the “uncontroversial” fact that Lanez “engaged in a course of conduct that culminated in distributing approximately five rounds at petitioner that resulted in injuries to her, surgery and from her testimony lasting mental anguish.”“Thank you, judge,” Megan said.Hayden said after court that “this was going to happen today one way or another.”He said the “bigger picture” is the lawsuit against Cooper in Florida “because that’s a speech issue.” Megan’s lawyers currently have until Jan. 13 to response to a motion to strike the complaint for failure to state a claim.I’ll discuss the hearing live on YouTube Friday at noon ET / 9 a.m. PT.Related articles:Lawyers say rapper Daystar “Tory Lanez” Peterson is running a harassment campaign against shooting victim Megan Thee Stallion from prison, and they’re suing a woman they believe has been paid by him to spread misinformation online.Megan Thee Stallion’s lawyer says the gun Tory Lanez used to shoot her in 2020 is with the Los Angeles Police Department and available for DNA testing, despite his lawyers claiming otherwise in a new appellate filing.Thank you for supporting my independent legal affairs journalism. Your paid subscriptions make my work possible. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, please consider purchasing a subscription through Substack. You also can support me through Venmo (MeghannCuniff), CashApp ($MeghannCuniff) and Zelle (meghanncuniff@gmail.com). Thank you!UpgradeLegal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thank you for always keeping us so informed on all the details. I read another article from an excellent reporter but I’m sure they don’t have enough space to include all the detail you did today. Very much appreciated and I hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe in the wake of the fires 🙏🏾No postsReady for more?

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