Thread by @meghanncuniff

Good morning from Los Angeles, where a jury could reach a verdict today in Tory Lanez’s trial for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. I’m at the courthouse and will be updating this thread throughout the day. 🧵

Tory’s lawyer George Mgdesyan is to finish his closing argument this morning, then prosecutors will give rebuttal argument. Deputy DA Alexander Bott argued yesterday that Lanez shot Megan @theestallion “over nothing more than a bruised ego.” bit.ly/3Vh2QQY

There’s a holiday skeleton crew of media awaiting Lanez’s arrival. Judge David Herriford’s trial schedule has allowed what could have been a 3-5 day trial to stretch over two weeks and keep the jury here three days before Christmas, so the crowd has been shrinking every day.

As I explained in a @LawCrimeNetwork interview, should the jury convict Tory Lanez today, Judge Herriford is going to be under big pressure from prosecutors to jail him on the spot. Three days before Christmas with his family in the courtroom. If it happens, it'll be a scene.

Tory Lanez addresses this predicament in the July 2021 song "Grah Tah Tah," which begins, “I know y'all hoes want me in jail but I'ma stunt 'cause I'm a baller.”
He raps later: “I know that y'all bitches want me in jail but I'm gon' keep stuntin’”
How will things end up today?

But before the jury can deliberate, they're going to hear more from Lanez's lawyer George Mgdesyan, who didn't finish his closing argument before Judge Herriford ended court about 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Then rebuttal from prosecutors.

Jurors were told to report at 9:45. Given Judge Herriford's approach to trial scheduling, there's a real chance we don't get going until about 11, and Mgdesyan and rebuttal go until noon, and then the jury is forced to take the standard 90-minute break before they can deliberate.

But, it's also very possible the jury starts deliberating this morning. Given the looks on their faces yesterday, I think they are ready to be done with this case. But anything can happen in the jury room. They have three charges to consider, including assault with a firearm.

I encourage everyone to read my @lawcrimenews article on closings yesterday, because there are many details in here that aren't in the tweets. Deputy DA Alexander Bott detailed a lot of evidence against Lanez. bit.ly/3Vh2QQY

You can find all my articles about Tory Lanez's trial for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion here: lawandcrime.com/tag/tory-lanez/

Tory Lanez has arrived at the courthouse, wearing a powder pink suit.

It's official: The jury is now deliberating in Tory Lanez's assault trial over the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. The 12 jurors went back to the jury room a few minutes ago after Lanez's lawyer George Mgdesyan finished his closing then Deputy DA Kathy Ta gave her rebuttal.

Megan Thee Stallion has representatives in the courtroom today. Mgdesyan pointed them out in his closing argument, questioning why her lawyer was handing papers to prosecutors during her testimony, saying this isn't a civil case. Judge Herriford sustained prosecutors' objection.

Deputy DA Kathy Ta reminded jurors of a quote from Mgdesyan from his closing yesterday that I really should have included in today's article.
"This case is about sexual relationships."
Ta disputed that claim from Mgdesyan, arguing the case is about a shooting, not sex.

Mgdesyan tried hitting on how much Tory Lanez has gone through the last two years, being falsely accused when really he was just trying to stop violence between two jealous women, saying, "You think my client hasn't gone through what Megan's gone through?"

But Judge Herriford sustained an objection from prosecutors because Mgdesyan is supposed to be arguing what he believes the evidence shows, and Mgdesyan never elicited testimony or entered evidence about what Tory's been through these last two years.

Mgdesyan tried to be humorous and personal with the jury. There are 14 - nine women and five men. Two of the women appear to be alternates.

Mgdesyan told them near the end of his argument, "My wife will tell you I love to get the last word."

One thing trial strategists might say Mgdesyan could focused on more is the fact that Tory made that apologetic call to Kelsey when he was in jail, and try to establish that he was hungover and miserable in jail to try to explain his apologetic demeanor. But we never heard that.

Like Deputy DA Alex Bott did in his closing, Deputy DA Kathy Ta quoted Megan's own testimony in her rebuttal.

"This whole story has not been about the shooting. It's only been about who is Tory having sex with."
- Megan Thee Stallion

Ta had a slideshow with a slide labeled "Not about" with a list underneath.
- Anyone's sex life
- The party ("The shooting didn't happen at the party.")
- LAPD

Ta said regarding Kelsey Harris: "The idea that she's a criminal mastermind? She's a terrible liar on the stand."
She also went through key passages from Hollywood Hills homeowner Sean Kelly's testimony about seeing Tory holding an object in his hand when flashes were going off.

Ta said when Tory and Megan were hanging out in July 2020, her fame was quickly rising.
"She's more successful, she's more famous than him." Tory was smirking and shaking his head at the defense table as she said this.

Ta said Tory "had a massive ego and he could not handle being disrespected." And when Megan had the nerve to walk away from him, he lost it and fired five rounds at her, then later apologized for doing so.
"This is a straight-forward case," Ta said.

Here's my article on Sean Kelly's testimony, ICYMI. He may go down as the least defensive defense witness I have ever seen testify. bit.ly/3FKak99

Regarding the jury, with two women as alternates, the 12 deliberating jurors are seven women and five men. Two of the men are, like Lanez, wearing pink today.

One is a white bald man who appears in his 40s. The other man wearing pink is a Black man, probably in his early 30s, who appears to have a penchant for short-sleeved collared shirts. (He walked into the courtroom last week wearing a USC Trojans shirt.)

One of the women is white and appears to be in her 30s. She's been at the same coffee shop I go to the last two mornings, buying her Eggnog latte before she heads over to the courthouse.

Sitting next to the Eggnog latte lady in the jury box is a woman in her 30s who appears to be Hispanic. She's wearing badge 50. The pool report from jury selection says about juror 50: "Medical assistant in a cardiology office, says she can be fair."

Seated next to the medical assistant is juror 39, the young Black woman who is a seamstress.
Pool report: "A women’s clothing "seamstress" who says she’s familiar with at least one party in the case through Instagram but generally isn’t on social media. Says she can be fair."

A bald white man with glasses sat next to juror 30. Jury selection pool report describes him this way: "Networking engineer for large sporting arena. Says he’s served on three trials and was victim of a residential burglary. Says he could be fair to both sides."

Next to the networking engineer is a white man in his late 20s or early 30s. He has a tattoo on his left bicep and wears glasses. He's seated next to a Black man who's probably in his late 50s or early 60s.

Next to him is a woman who I don't have a good description of because I can't see much of her. She is a person of a color.
The 1st jury box row begins with the two alternates, one a blondish white woman with glasses who was absolutely staring death stares at Mgdesyan yesterday.

Three other women were next, all appearing in 40s. Then comes the bald white man in the pink shirt, followed by the young Black man who wears pink and at one point USC Trojan attire. Next to him is the Black woman in 50s or 60s whom I mentioned yesterday.

https://twitter.com/meghanncuniff/status/1605621322612035584

Speaking of the jury, they just left the jry room for the standard 90-minute break. (Judge Herriford told them they cannot deliberate from noon to 1:30.) This means nothing can happen until after 1:30.

Judge Herriford told the jury if they don't reach verdict today, they can deliberate tomorrow or choose to take the day off and return for further deliberations on Dec. 27.

"I'm cognizant that today is Dec. 22," the judge claimed.

Getting up before a jury and giving a closing argument has to get a lawyer’s adrenaline pumping, and sometimes funny little gaffes can happen because of it.

In the Harvey Weinstein trial, it was when his lawyer Alan Jackson cited the birth of his daughter when saying in his closing that people can remember specific times. He could never forget when she was born: "7:34 a.m. on October 19. I mean October 20!"
🤣😂 🤣

For Lanez’s lawyer George Mgdesyan, it was when he was saying something this morning about Kelsey being the one who actually shot Megan, not Lanez, and he blanked on Kelsey's name in the heat of the moment, saying, "What’s her name? Uh, Kelsey!"

I also noticed yesterday when Mgdesyan was talking about what a high standard beyond a reasonable doubt is for criminal convictions he said, "The Legislature makes it very difficult."
I'm sure he knows it's actually the Constitution that does that.

Thread broke, continues here:

https://twitter.com/meghanncuniff/status/1606013380199739392

A message from your friendly @LASuperiorCourt communications office staff.

“They returned from lunch and resumed deliberating at 1:32 p.m.”

There is no verdict yet in Tory Lanez’s trial, but they have requested to hear all of Sean Kelly’s testimony read aloud by the court reporter. That’s happening right now.

Many judges have readbacks occur in open court and the public can sit in and watch/listen when it's happening. Judge Charlaine Olmedo did that in Danny Masterson's rape trial, but Judge Lisa Lench wouldn't allow it in Harvey Weinstein's trial. Same w/ Judge Herriford, apparently.

Judge Lench wouldn't allow the public to even know what the jury was asking about (for a verdict that has cultural implications), saying it would interfere with deliberations. The fact that we know what the request is in Lanez's trial is clear evidence of how wrong she is on that

You can find this #ToryLanez trial thread all in one place here: bit.ly/3hGQRhT

Reporters are passing around the verdict form in the hallway. I think there’s confusion online because people see the top of one page and think that’s it, but jury has two pages for each charge: One for not guilty and one for guilty. This is the assault charge. No verdict yet.

Again, there is no verdict yet in the Tory Lanez trial. Jurors have two pages for each charge: One for not guilty and one for guilty. These are for the second count.

I repeat: There is no verdict yet in the Tory Lanez trial. Jurors have two pages for each charge: One for guilty, one for not guilty. These are for the third charge, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence.

The verdict forms make me realize there’s been confusion over what exactly Tory Lanez is charged with - when I talked to his lawyer before trial, he said negligent discharge would basically be an alternate to intentional. But there actually is no charge of intentional discharge.

To clarify, I’m saying Lanez is not charged with intentional discharge of a firearm as has been reported (including by me in old stories). He’s charged with assault with a firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm and having a concealed and unregistered firearm in a vehicle.

I’m used to having electronic access to all documents through federal court, so the complete lack of any public access to criminal records during major @LASuperiorCourt trials is quite a change. It really is disgraceful that the public isn’t allowed to see documents in this case.

Anyone citing the fact that this is a high-profile case seems to forget the fact that court is a taxpayer-funded public system designed to resolve major societal disputes. U.S. District Court creates webpages for all documents in some high-profile cases. Why can’t state courts?

Tory Lanez’s lawyer George Mgdesyan just told reporters in the hallway that the jury has another question, “They want a definition of willfully and on purpose.” Mgdesyan said his question for the jury is, “What’s taking so long with your NG?” (not guilty)

The jury in Tory Lanez’s trial is coming back tomorrow at 9 a.m. for continued deliberations.

Just in from our friends at @LASuperiorCourt.

“At 3:50 p.m. the jurors in the case of People v. Daystar Peterson asked the court for “a better definition of the word ‘willfully’ and ‘on purpose’.” Jurors agreed to wait until tomorrow for a written response from the court.”

Awesome art from Mona Shafer Edwards today of Tory Lanez clad in pink while his lawyer George Mgdesyan argues at the lectern. Follow Mona on Instagram: instagram.com/p/CmfY454PWsn/…