As it turns out, the general public wasn’t alone in thinking that Tory Lanez placing the blame on Kelsey Harris for shooting Megan Thee Stallion was a bad idea. “I don’t find it to be a viable strategy,” said Lanez’s first lawyer.
Source: Roy Rochlin/ Thaddeus McAdams / Getty
According to unsealed emails obtained and reviewed by Meghann Cuniff, the rapper’s first lawyer instructed him against blaming Kelsey Harris in the July 2020 shooting. This comes just a few months after Lanez was found guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet, facing 24 years behind bars.
The emails between the rapper and his former lawyer, Shawn Holley, were reportedly unsealed after Lanez’s new lawyers persuaded him to waive his attorney-client privilege. According to the emails, Holley rejected the 30-year-old’s idea to persuade jurors that Harris fired the gun that ultimately struck Megan in the feet outside a party in Hollywood Hills.
As for why Lanez ended up finding new representation, Holley apparently instructed him to look for a new lawyer who would be more comfortable “moving forward with that defense.”
“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 wrote in an email dated November 21, 2022.
Another email dated December 18 saw Holley formally withdraw as Lanez’s lawyer, which came after Harris falsely claimed that Holley “was somehow involved in facilitating an arrangement between [Lanez] and [Harris] whereby [Lanez] would finance [Harris’] business (or something like that) in order to curry favor with [Harris], thereby aligning [Lanez] and [Harris’] interests as far as the case was concerned.”
“You and I both know that this never happened,” Holley wrote at the time.
“In any event, the fact that these false allegations have been made about me — and that they are now evidence in the case — makes it a conflict (as an ethical/legal matter) for me to continue to represent you and, as a result, I am obligated to withdraw as your attorney,” she added.
The rapper’s new lawyers, Matthew Barhoma and Jose Baez, filed a motion for a new trial over their claims that Holley provided “ineffective assistance of counsel.” A judge denied that motion.
Meghann Cuniff, colloquially called Meghann Thee Reporter by the public, noted in her story that Lanez’s emails are labeled confidential, and none could have been released publicly had Lanez not waived his attorney-client privilege during last month’s hearing.
The judge told Lanez, “Mr. Peterson, I don’t know if you’re following what we’re talking about here, but you have the attorney-client privilege. In other words, anything you tell any of your lawyers is privileged, which means it cannot be disclosed to anyone. If your lawyers are making the claims that they’re making, they are waiving that privilege and putting that out there,” reports Cuniff.
“Do you understand what I mean so far?” Herriford asked.
“I’m sorry, can you say that one more time?” Lanez said. Barhoma briefly spoke with him and the rapper then said, “Yes, I understand.”
Lanez will be sentenced on August 7.