Happy Birthday 🎁 🎂 To Myself

 

Jailed Canadian rapper, Tory Lanez reportedly said that he accepted responsibility for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in a statement in court ahead of his sentencing earlier this month.

 

'I want to say that everything that I did wrong that night I take full responsibility for,' the 31-year-old rapper, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford on August 9, according to transcripts obtained by People

The rapper admitted in the hearing that the spotlight of fame had caused him to make 'the wrong decisions' at times.

 

'And as a celebrity, there's been times when I've made mistakes,' Lanez said. 'There's been times when I've had moments that were under a lot [of] scrutiny, like this one right now.'

 

He continued: 'Through all of those moments as a celebrity, there's times when the media can make things bigger than it is. They can change the story. They can do whatever it is that they do. And sometimes whatever they run with is what they're gonna run with.'

 

The Jerry Sprunger artist described himself 'as a regular person that genuinely just wants a chance ... to be better himself in any positive and possible way' in appealing for a lighter sentence, noting that he has a fiancé and six-year-old child.

 

Lanez promised the judge that if he were to receive a lighter sentence or probation, he would make a positive impact on the world.

 

'If it is possible, in any sort of way for you to exercise your hand, your honor, in any discretion to give me some sort of alternative sentence to everybody else in this room and to myself that I can be a betterment to my community,' Lanez said. 'That I can use my platform and my influence to change things, as I've been, but at a better level.

 

'I want to be able to take the time to show the world that what they're seeing right now is not me.'

 

The Broke in a Minute performer said that he had been engaging in prayer since he was taken into custody in December, and tried to provide a 'positive reinforcement' for other inmates.

 

He told the judge he was not seeking special treatment because he's famous, but rather wanted to demonstrate that he could inspire others with his turnaround.

 

'I don't stand in front of you as somebody who is just expecting some sort of preferential treatment,' Lanez said. 'I don't stand in front of you as somebody that's expecting because I'm a celebrity that the rules have to change for me in any sort of way.

 

'But, your honor, I genuinely am asking you to put me to the test. I'm asking you with my heart to give me the opportunity ... I'm asking you to at least give me the chance.'

 

He said of the shooting: 'If I could turn back the series of events that night and change them, as unfortunate as they were, I would, but I can't. And I apologize.

 

'I'm sorry that I did that. Sorry that I had those moments. And, again, if I could, I would. I would change them. But I can't.'

 

Lanez added, 'I want to say that everything that I did wrong that night I take full responsibility for. I take full culpability for. And I am mature enough to say where I was wrong. If I could go into it, I would, but I know that this is not the place for that. But I do take responsibility for my wrongs.'

 

In the subsequent sentencing hearing, Judge Herriford said that the positive portrait Lanez's relatives and friends had painted in their testimony in the trial was 'difficult to reconcile' with his actions toward Megan.

 

'Sometimes good people do bad things,' Herriford told the court, according to the AP. 'Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.'

 

In the trial, Megan testified Lanez had shot at her feet and yelled at her to dance as she was getting out of an SUV following a party at the home of Kylie Jenner.

 

Megan, who initially did not publicly identify Lanez as the shooter, testified she had to undergo surgery to take bullet fragments out of her feet.

 

'Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,' the songstress said in a statement a prosecutor read prior to the sentencing. 'Slowly but surely, I'm healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.'

 

Lanez was credited 10 months for time served, as he has been in custody since his conviction in December.

 

Lanez's lead lawyer Jose Baez said he was 'extremely disappointed' with the sentence, and felt that it was 'to set an example' since the rapper is a celebrity, adding, 'He´s not an example - he's a human being.'

 

Baez added, 'I have seen vehicular homicide and other cases where there's death, and the defendant still gets less than 10 years.'

 

Lanez's attorneys said their next step is to appeal the verdict and ask for the rapper's release on bail in the interim.

 

Prosecutors spoke positively of Megan for her fortitude in coming forward amid online hate and mockery aimed at her over the incident involving Lanez.

 

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said, 'I hope that Miss Pete's bravery gives hope to those who feel helpless.'