Prosecutors in the Tory Lanez assault trial must think they’re DJ Khaled because they attempted to add another charge to the Canadian rapper’s plate. But on Monday they were shut down by the judge, who said they had waited too long.
The prosecution tried to add two new witness tampering charges, citing California Penal Code 136.1, which makes it a felony crime to try to dissuade a witness, according to Rolling Stone.
Earlier this month, prosecuting attorneys were successful in adding a new felony charge of discharging a firearm with gross negligence on the same day Lanez was released from house arrest.
According to Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta said the motion to add the new charges was based on allegations that Lanez offered to pay Megan Thee Stallion and Kelsey Harris, Megan’s ex-friend and assistant, $1 million to stay quiet about the shooting on July 12, 2020.
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Judge David Herriford responded by asking why prosecutors waited so long considering Megan made the underlying allegation early in the case. Ta said she wasn’t sure how Harris was going to testify, but given that she did appear to corroborate Megan’s claim during her turn on the witness stand, they decided to file over the alleged “$1 million bribe.”
Lanez’s defense lawyer George Mgdsyan objected Monday, saying prosecutors had known since September what Harris’ testimony likely would be, and the court agreed. Herriford said the late addition placed the defense in a “difficult position” in terms of planning and response time.
As a result, the judge denied the prosecution’s motion.
Over the weekend, there were a number of new details in the assault trial that came to light, most notably the news that the Houston rapper’s bodyguard, Justin Edison, went missing shortly after he gave a witness statement to prosecutors that implicated Lanez.
During opening statements, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott said that Edison was going to take the stand and say that he visited the Canadian rapper’s house the day after the shooting, where he heard Lanez confess that he shot Megan in both of her feet. Although he was not there when the shooting happened, Edison said he got a text from Harris that read, “Help/Tory shot meg/911.”
The Los Angeles Police Department is currently investigating his disappearance, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.