Jose Baez, a lawyer representing Tory Lanez, suggested mistaken eyewitness testimony led to his client’s conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
Baez cited the high percentage of unreliable eyewitnesses involved in wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence on Thursday (May 4). The statistic came from a report by the Innocence Project.
“Mistaken eyewitness identifications contributed to approximately 69% of the more than 375 wrongful convictions in the United States overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence,” Baez wrote on Instagram Stories.
Baez also shared an example of what he believed to be mistaken witness identification in the Tory Lanez shooting case. A jury convicted Tory Lanez in December 2022.
Tory Lanez was found guilty of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, discharging a firearm with gross negligence and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He faces up to 22 years and eight months in prison.
The Canadian rapper has remained in jail since his conviction. He awaits a judge’s ruling on his motion for a new trial, which is scheduled to be heard on May 8.
Tory Lanez maintains his innocence. Last month, he claimed he was “robbed and deprived of a fair trial.” He accused prosecutors of hiding and suppressing exculpatory evidence that exonerates him.
