Source: Bernard Smalls / @BeanzGotGamez / Tory Lanez
Tory Lanez is looking at some serious jail time after being found guilty on all charges in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting case. His legal team is working hard and doing whatever they can to keep him out of prison.
Spotted on HipHopDX via Law&Crime reporter Meghann Cuniff Lanez’s latest desperate attempt to avoid jail time is to get Judge David Herriford, who presided over the initial case, dismissed. Herriford also shot down the Canadian musician’s motion for a new trial.
Lanez’s attorneys, Matthew Barhoma and Jose Baez, filed a motion to dismiss Herriford to keep their client from behind bars.
In their appellate partition filed just days after their motion for a new trial was dismissed, they alluded to three examples of Herriford’s “partiality” during the May hearing.
Per HipHopDX:
They claimed the judge directed them to present their arguments in the order he wanted instead of the order they wanted; didn’t allow them to call witnesses for live testimony; and interrupted them and cut them off when they were arguing.
“Conversely, the judge gave the People a full and fair opportunity to present argument uninterrupted, even when the case cited by the People did not stand for the proposition that they advanced,” the defense attorneys wrote.
“Together, these facts reveal such a high degree of favoritism or antagonism as to make fair judgment impossible,” they added. “Given these facts, a reasonable person would fairly entertain doubts concerning the judge’s impartiality. As a result, disqualification is required.”
Judge Herriford Claps Back
Herriford anticipated Lanez’s legal team’s motion to dismiss him and supplied a “verified answer” in a written order during the second day of the hearing on the motion for a new trial.
“I am not prejudiced or biased against or in favor of any party to this proceeding or their counsel,” Herrifod wrote. “All rulings made by me in this action have been based upon facts and arguments officially presented to me and upon my understanding of the law. … All statements made by me and all actions taken by me in this proceeding have been done in furtherance of what I believe were my judicial duties.”
Cuniff reports that filling is not delaying the sentencing, which will take place on June 13. There is no indication that the court is even considering taking it up before Lanez’s sentencing, being that it has sat untouched for three weeks.
This latest development comes after prosecutors filed a motion calling for Lanez to get the harshest sentencing possible. If that goes down, the “Say It” crafter could be looking at 22 years and eight months in prison.
Welp.
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Photo: Bernard Smalls / @BeanzGotGamez
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