Legal news
Tory Lanez Found Guilty on All Counts in Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Trial
Rapper Tory Lanez has been found guilty on all three counts in the closely-watched trial over whether he shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot, ending a nearly two-week trial over the July 2020 incident and setting the stage for a potentially lengthy prison sentence. The verdict was handed down by a jury in Los Angeles court on Friday (Dec. 23). Lanez was convicted on all counts: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He faces up to 22 years in prison. Upon the reading of the verdict, Lanez’s father, who was present in the gallery, began screaming. “This wicked system. Shame of all of you!” he cried out. In the course of the trial, Lanez’s defense team made their best effort to sow doubt ov...
Movie Studios Can Be Sued for Deceptive Trailers, Judge Rules
US District Judge Stephen Wilson has sided with two Ana de Armas’ fans in a lawsuit against Universal Pictures, Variety reports, ruling that movie studios can be sued for deceptive trailers under the California False Adverting Law and the state’s Unfair Competition Law. The plaintiffs rented the 2019 film Yesterday after seeing de Armas in the trailer, only to find that all of her scenes had been cut before the film’s release. They then sued Universal, who tried to get the lawsuit thrown out under the free speech protections granted by the First Amendment. “Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” Wilson wrote in his December 20th decision. “At its...
Journey’s Neal Schon Hits Bandmate Jonathan Cain with Cease and Desist over Mar-A-Lago Performance
Journey’s Neal Schon has hit bandmate Jonathan Cain with a cease and desist over Cain’s performance of “Don’t Stop Believin’” at Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort. In November, Cain participated in a singalong of “Don’t Stop Believin’” with Trump sycophants Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Kari Lake. The performance struck a nerve with Schon, who fired off a cease and desist. “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarizes the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political,” Schon’s attorney wrote in a letter (via The Guardian). Advertisement Related Video “Mr. Cain’s unauthorized af...
Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Eyewitness Offers Confusing Testimony, Pegs Both Tory Lanez and Megan’s Ex-Friend as Shooter
Sean Kelly, an alleged eye witness to the 2020 incident in which Megan Thee Stallion was shot, offered confusing and contradictory testimony Tuesday (Dec. 20) about what really happened, saying he never actually saw a gun — but also that he saw a man matching Tory Lanez’s description holding one, and that Megan’s former friend and assistant Kelsey Harris may also have fired. During the seventh day of the blockbuster trial, Kelly (a key witness for Lanez’s defense team) testified that when he first looked outside his home on the night of the incident, he saw Megan and Harris kicking and punching each other outside of a vehicle. “They were pulling their hair and hitting each other. It was quite violent,” he told Lanez’s attorney George Mgdesyan. Shortly after a man matching the description o...
Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty of Rape in L.A. Trial as Jury Reveals Mixed Verdict
Harvey Weinstein on Monday (Dec. 19) was found guilty of rape in a Los Angeles trial. The conviction further cements his plunge from one of the most influential producers in Hollywood to the face of the #MeToo movement. But the jury acquitted Weinstein of sexual battery by restraint against a different Jane Doe accuser. Jurors also couldn’t reach a decision on three sexual assault charges, including rape. This trial centered on testimony from four women, all known as Jane Does in court, who accused Weinstein of raping or sexually assaulting them from 2004 to 2013. Four others also testified that they were assaulted, though their claims didn’t lead to charges. In total, prosecutors called 44 witnesses to the stand to make their case against the former movie mogul. Weinstein faced two c...
![Two People Killed, One Other In Critical Condition Following Crowd Crush at London’s O2 Academy Brixton [UPDATED]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/two-people-killed-one-other-in-critical-condition-following-crowd-crush-at-londons-o2-academy-brixton-updated-1050x600.jpg)
![Two People Killed, One Other In Critical Condition Following Crowd Crush at London’s O2 Academy Brixton [UPDATED]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/two-people-killed-one-other-in-critical-condition-following-crowd-crush-at-londons-o2-academy-brixton-updated-80x80.jpg)
Two People Killed, One Other In Critical Condition Following Crowd Crush at London’s O2 Academy Brixton [UPDATED]
Two people died and another individual was left in critical condition on Thursday night following a crowd crush outside London’s O2 Academy Brixton, The Guardian and The New York Times report. Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, died on Saturday morning. Gabrielle Hutchinson, 23, who was working as a contracted security provider, passed away on Monday morning. A third woman, 21, still remains in the hospital in critical condition. A total of eight people were hospitalized after the incident, which occurred during a performance by Nigerian Afrobeats artist Asake. Metropolitan police arrived the south London venue around 9:35 p.m. after reports that an overwhelming number of people were attempting to force entry into the venue; the injuries are “believed to have been caused by crushing”...
Skateboarding Fleetwood Mac TikTok Star Arrested for Marijuana Possession
Nathan Apodaca, the TikTok user aka 420doggface208 who went viral in 2020 for his skateboarding clip set to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” was arrested by Idaho State Police after being found in possession of marijuana. TMZ reports that Apodaca was stopped by police because of an expired registration tag. After observing edibles in his vehicle, officers conducted a search and found three packages of THC gummies and a scraping tool with a sticky residue. Apodaca was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors: possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked and released on $600 bond, according to arrest records. Advertisement Related Video In a statement to TMZ, Apodaca claimed that he was not read his Miranda rights during the traffic stop, and was falsely charged wit...
Megan Thee Stallion Trial Bombshell: Ex-Friend Claims Tory Lanez Shot Rapper, Offered $1M Bribe in Recorded Interview
In a bombshell recorded interview played in open court on Friday (Dec. 16), Kelsey Harris, Megan Thee Stallion‘s former friend and assistant, claimed several times that she saw Tory Lanez shoot the “Savage” rapper and then bribed her and Harris to keep quiet — contradicting her in-court testimony on Wednesday and Thursday. Judge David Herriford allowed prosecutors to play the entire 80-minute recording in front of the jury on day five of the blockbuster trial, in which Lanez is charged, among other things, with shooting Megan in the foot on July 12, 2020. The interview — clips from which were previously played in court during Harris’ two-day stint on the witness stand — was conducted on Sept. 14, 2022, in the presence of Deputy District Attorneys Kathy Ta and Alexander Bott, senior investi...
Megan Thee Stallion’s Ex-Assistant Denies Tory Lanez Threatened or Bribed Her on Day 4 of Trial
Kelsey Harris, Megan Thee Stallion‘s former friend and assistant, returned to court Thursday (Dec. 15) to complete her testimony on the fourth day of the high-profile trial over whether Tory Lanez shot Megan in the foot on July 12, 2020 — and like on Wednesday, the witness raised the ire of attorneys on both sides of the case with incomplete and often contradictory testimony. During Harris’ previous turn on the stand on Wednesday, Megan’s former friend and assistant failed to recall much of a September 2022 interview she did with Deputy District Attorneys Kathy Ta and Alexander Bott and another investigator. Ultimately, she testified that parts of that interview, during which she gave a detailed account of what happened the night of the shooting more than two years prior, “weren’...
Dave Chappelle Attacker Sentenced to Nine Months in Jail
Isaiah Lee, the man who attacked comedian Dave Chappelle on stage at the Hollywood Bow in May, has pleaded no contest and been sentenced to 270 days in a county jail, Deadline reports. Lee was charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and entering a restricted area during a live event. The 24-year-old is currently locked up on an unrelated charge, with authorities alleging that he stabbed his roommate at a transitional housing facility last year. His lawyers has sought to place him in a pretrial intervention program designed to help people with behavioral or mental health issues, but the judge rejected the request. Chappelle had been performing at Netflix Is a Joke Fest when Lee stormed the stage and attempted to tackle him. Chappelle was brought to the ground but escaped u...
Megan Thee Stallion’s Ex-Assistant Contradicts Earlier Statements, Invokes Fifth Amendment During Day 3 of Tory Lanez Trial
Megan Thee Stallion‘s former friend and assistant Kelsey Harris took the stand Wednesday (Dec. 14) on the third day of the highly publicized trial over whether Tory Lanez shot Megan in the foot on July 12, 2020. During Harris’ testimony — which saw her become increasingly hesitant about answering Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta‘s questions about what happened on the night in question — a recording from an interview she gave to Ta, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott and an investigator in September 2022 was played in court to try to jog her memory. During a portion of that earlier interview, Harris could be heard claiming that Lanez had also threatened to shoot her on the car ride back from Kylie Jenner‘s house prior to the shooting. But in a surprising turn, Harris recante...
Gunna to Be Released from Prison After Pleading Guilty in Racketeering Charge
Gunna is set to be released from prison after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge against him, Young Thug, and 26 other associates, local Atlanta news outlets report. The rapper — born Sergio Kitchens — entered an Alford plea, a type of negotiation in which a defendant still maintains their innocence, but admits that evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict if the case were to go to trial. Gunna had been sentenced to five years with one being served in prison. The remaining four years of his sentence have been suspended and will be subject to special conditions, including 500 hours of community service. Advertisement Related Video “While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been intervie...
