Tory Lanez hired a new attorney named Ronda Renee Dixon ahead of his sentencing for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
Dixon criticized Tory Lanez’s lawyers Jose Baez and Matthew Barhoma in an interview published in Meghann Cuniff’s Legal Affairs and Trials newsletter on Wednesday (July 12). Lanez signed off on a substitution of counsel in June as he sought to replace Barhoma with Dixon.
“These guys are just taking advantage of [Lanez],” Dixon told Cuniff. “They’ve had him sign powers of attorneys. They’re acting on his behalf … They’re not really asking him what he wants.”
Dixon claimed Barhoma charged Lanez $90,000 for an “asinine” attempt to get Judge David Herriford removed from the case. An appellate court denied the motion to disqualify the judge.
“What he’s paid his attorneys so far is unreal,” Dixon said. “It’s unimaginable. They were only concerned about getting paid.”
Dixon accused Baez and Barhoma of lying to their client. She said they blamed the judge to “cover up their own ineptitude.”
Barhoma denied any wrongdoing. Baez did not respond to Cuniff’s request for comment.
A jury convicted Lanez of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, discharging a firearm with gross negligence and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle in December 2022. His sentencing has been delayed several times.
Prosecutors asked Judge Herriford to sentence Lanez to 13 years in prison. Lanez is scheduled to be sentenced on August 7.
Dixon wanted to secure bail for Lanez, who has remained in jail since his conviction. She expressed concerns about his well-being since he was held in isolation.
“He told me he hadn’t seen daylight in four months, that they didn’t take him to the day yard at all,” Dixon told Cuniff. “That’s doing something to his psyche.”
Dixon described Lanez as “totally despondent.”
“He told me he wanted to go to state prison,” she said. “I said, ‘You want to go to state prison? Why?’ He said, ‘At least I’ll be able to go out in the yard and talk to people.’ That upset me. I don’t think he’s guilty.”
Lanez intended to have Dixon work under Baez, but his new attorney admitted the lawyers “have some serious issues.” Judge Herriford must approve the substitution of Dixon for Barhoma before she can officially join the case.