A defense attorney who hopes to free Tory Lanez from jail accused his legal team of “taking advantage” of the rapper.
Tory’s legal team, led by Jose Baez, said legal affairs journalist Meghann Cuniff (pictured inset) is “negative and extremely biased,” and they urged Tory’s Twitter followers not to read her reports about his case.
In an Instagram post, the lawyers wrote: “With all due respect… Please disregard anything Meghann Cuniff reports on Tory Lanez. Her objective, perspective/narrative has always been negative and extremely biased towards him … if there is an update on tory it will come from this page first. If it doesn’t come from this page it’s not real.”
According to Complex.com, the allegations came just a day after Cuniff published an article titled “New attorney plans to seek Tory Lanez’s release from jail over Megan Thee Stallion shooting.”
In the article, attorney Ronda Renee Dixon accused Tory’s lawyers of taking advantage of him.
“These guys are just taking advantage of [Tory],” 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 said the Canadian rap star was in isolation – away from the general population in L.A.’s Men’s Central Jail. Dixon recently met with Tory in jail, and described him as “totally despondent.”
“His eyes were black,” Dixon said. “He told me he wanted to go to state prison. 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.”
Dixon had hoped to replace Tory’s attorney Matthew Barhoma to prepare for Tory’s upcoming sentencing hearing. However, Tory’s lead attorney, Jose Baez, said he’s hiring longtime criminal defense attorney Thomas Edward “Ed” Welbourn to prepare for Tory’s August 7 sentencing.
Tory, real name Daystar Peterson, signed a substitution of counsel request on June 27, to replace Barhoma with Dixon. Both attorneys also signed the request.
However, the judge in the case rejected the request to replace Barhoma with Dixon.
Tory previously lost an appeal to overturn his conviction for shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in both feet.
In December 2022, he was found guilty of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He faces a potential 22-year prison sentence.
