Tory Lanez's first lawyer told him blaming Kelsey Harris for shooting Megan Thee Stallion was not 'a viable strategy'
In a rare public airing of case strategy, emails from Lanez's former lawyer were unsealed after his new lawyers persuaded him to waive his attorney-client privilege.
Tory Lanez’s original lawyer rejected his idea to try to persuade jurors that Megan Thee Stallion’s now-former friend fired the gun when Megan was shot in the Hollywood Hills nearly three years ago.
An email obtained by Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff shows Shawn Holley instructed Lanez to see if another lawyer would be willing “to move forward with that defense.”
“As we discussed on Saturday, I am not comfortable advancing the ‘Kelsie Defense’ , primarily because I don’t find it to be a viable strategy,” Holley wrote Lanez on Nov. 21, 2022, misspelling the first name of Megan’s former friend and assistant, Kelsey Nicole Harris.
Holley said she didn’t believe her position would change unless Lanez’s driver, Jaquan Smith, “is persuasive in the preview of his testimony and you are persuasive under mock cross-examination.”
“Even if both of those benchmarks (Quan/you) were to be satisfied, I am still not certain that I would be willing to go forward,” Holley wrote. “In light of that, you should discuss with George his willingness and ability to move forward with that defense and if he can do so by the trial date.”
Holley was referring to attorney George Mgdesyan, who went on to push the “Kelsie defense” in a trial narrative that cast Lanez as the victim of two women who violently fought over their shared romantic interest in him. Mgdesyan argued it was Harris, not Lanez, who fired five rounds at Megan from a semi-automatic firearm as Megan walked away from Lanez’s Escalade about 4:25 a.m. on July 12, 2020, after they left a gathering at reality star Kylie Jenner’s home. Megan was hospitalized with bullet fragments in both feet that were removed by surgeons.
A jury deliberated seven hours over two days before convicting Lanez on Dec. 23 of first-degree assault, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and having a concealed and unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He was jailed awaiting sentencing, which Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford last week scheduled for Aug. 7. Prosecutors are asking for 13 years in prison. Lanez’s lawyers have until Aug. 1 to file their recommendation following their unsuccessful request for the appellate court to disqualify Herriford because of how he treated them in the hearing on their motion for new trial.
Holley’s email about “the Kelsie defense” was among the documents Herriford ordered unsealed after Lanez waived his attorney-client privilege over them at the advice of his new lawyers, Matthew Barhoma and Jose Baez. The 30-year-old rapper did so on May 8 while seated at the defense table in the midst of Herriford’s hearing on his motion for new trial after Barhoma and Baez said they wanted to publicly discuss their claim that Holley provided ineffective assistance of counsel.
Hired after Lanez was convicted, Barhoma and Baez argued in their sealed supplement that Holley was personally conflicted in her defense of Lanez because prosecutors were accusing her of helping him try to bribe Harris as a witness. They argued her conflict spread to Mgdesyan because Holley helped him prepare and consulted with him during trial. At the same time, they argued prosecutors violated Lanez’s right to counsel by accusing Holley of bribery and leaking discovery, which they said essentially forced her from the trial. Prosecutors say Holley was never formally accused of bribery or leaking discovery.
The unsealed documents include an email Holley wrote Lanez on Dec. 18 — three days before closing arguments — formally quitting as his counsel and citing Harris’ statements that Holley “was somehow involved in facilitating an arrangement between you and she whereby you would finance her business (or something like that) in order to curry favor with her, thereby aligning your and her interests as far as the case was concerned.”
“You and I both know that this never happened,” Holley said. “In any event, the fact that these false allegations have been made about me — and that they are now evidence in the case — makes it a conflict (as an ethical/legal matter) for me to continue to represent you and, as a result, I am obligated to withdraw as your attorney.”
Holley told Lanez she’d file her withdrawal under seal “so it will not be part of the official court file or record and, accordingly, the media will have no reason to suspect that my role has in any way changed from ‘working behind the scenes because of a scheduling conflict.’”
The next line, however, indicates something else was afoot. Holley told Lanez that Megan’s lawyer Alex Spiro is investigating “Kelsey having being ‘compromised’ (bribed or threatened)” and has requested she and other attorneys “preserve all communications which might be relevant to this matter.”
“We will not give in to his demands and we find them improper. But that is a subject for another day,” Holley told Lanez.
Barhoma and Baez included a copy of the Dec. 15 records preservation demand from Spiro, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in New York City who’s also represented rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, the billionaire husband of Beyoncé and the founder of Roc Nation, which is Megan’s management company.
Lanez OKs public release of trial strategy emails
Purchased through the court clerk’s office for $109, the documents offer an extraordinary look inside the defense strategy for a criminal case that has roiled the hip-hop music industry for nearly three years. Holley’s Nov. 21 email saying she doesn’t find the “Kelsie defense…to be a viable strategy” shows Lanez’s own team questioned a defense narrative that continues to incite online vitriol, including harassment of Harris by people who insist she shot Megan and framed Lanez.
The emails are labeled confidential, and none could have been released publicly had Lanez not waived his attorney-client privilege during last month’s hearing.
Barhoma and Baez advised Lanez to do so after Judge Herriford restricted their argument in the packed courtroom to only issues raised in their unsealed motion for new trial, not the sealed supplement. Herriford warned them that Lanez waiving privilege would allow the public and prosecutors access to everything and, “There’s some things in there that I don’t know that you want … to come out.”
The judge told Lanez, “Mr. Peterson, I don’t know if you’re following what we’re talking about here, but you have the attorney-client privilege. In other words, anything you tell any of your lawyers is privileged, which means it cannot be disclosed to anyone. If your lawyers are making the claims that they’re making, they are waiving that privilege and putting that out there.”
“Do you understand what I mean so far?” Herriford asked.
“I’m sorry, can you say that one more time?” Lanez said. Barhoma briefly spoke with him and the rapper then said, “Yes, I understand.”
Herriford specifically told Lanez that his communications with Holley would become public record.
“In other words, your lawyers have submitted to the court various documents that include e-mails and communications from Ms. Holley, from various other people, that talk about your trial strategy and talk about other things, which ordinarily would not be disclosed. But they put Ms. Holley’s situation in issue,” Herriford told Lanez. “So, in order for them to do that, your privilege is waived as to those documents. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, your honor,” Lanez answered.
“Are you willing to waive your privilege only with respect to those documents at this point?” Herriford asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Lanez answered.
With that, Lanez authorized the public release of several emails Holley sent him in the weeks before Mgdesyan took over as trial counsel. Foremost is the Nov. 21 email in which Holley disavows the “Kelsie defense,” which Barhoma and Baez said supports their argument that Holley was personally conflicted from effectively representing Lanez.
“Conflicted Counsel’s unwillingness to proceed with the ‘Kelsie Defense,’ can be viewed as a reluctance to cross-examine a witness who could essentially put Conflicted Counsel’s own credibility at issue based on prior allegations,” according to the supplement. “Whether Conflicted Counsel genuinely disagreed with the ‘Kelsie Defense’ is immaterial to the actual conflict of interest that existed because Conflicted Counsel’s personal interests interfered with her ability to give Mr. Peterson sound and detached advice regarding whether Mgdesyan was a viable replacement as primary counsel.”
Barhoma and Baez argued Holley feared a defense focused on Harris would elicit unwanted testimony from Harris about Holley’s own involvement in Lanez’s alleged attempted bribery. But prosecutors say Barhoma and Baez are missing the significance of Harris’ statements regarding Holley: The issue is not whether Holley was truly involved in the attempted bribery, it’s that Harris said Lanez told her that she was.
“The fact is the evidence showed that the defendant told Ms. Harris that his attorney, Shawn Holley, told him to structure the bribe this way. Well, because the defendant said that doesn’t mean that Shawn Holley actually said that or actually provided help behind the scenes,” said Deputy District Attorney Alex Bott.
Months of trial planning by Holley, then a sudden absence
Judge Herriford rejected all arguments that Holley was ineffective when he denied Lanez’s motion for new trial.
In addition to alleging a conflict of interest, Barhoma and Baez criticized her for not hiring a DNA expert until October 2022, but Herriford said he was “having a hard time following that argument, because, again, if she wanted to undermine the case because of some concern about the DNA evidence, she wouldn’t have retained an expert at all.”
“I don’t think there’s anything unusual about retaining an expert — again, who is simply testifying about conclusions — in October when the trial is going to start in December,” Herriford said. “I don’t see the prejudice. I don’t see the deficient performance. When Ms. Holley was representing Mr. Peterson, she represented him effectively and vigorously.” Herriford also said “no one accused her of any discovery leak.”
A licensed California attorney since 1988, Holley was a deputy Los Angeles County public defender for five years before she joined Johnnie Cochran’s firm and helped defend OJ Simpson in his 1995-96 murder trial. Her long list of current and former celebrity clients includes actor Danny Masterson, singer Justin Bieber, socialite Paris Hilton and boxers George Foreman, Mike Tyson and “Sugar” Ray Leonard. She also represented actress Lindsay Lohan in her widely publicized jewelry theft case in the early 2010s.
Lanez hired Holley on Oct. 4, 2020, four days before the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced his grand jury indictment. She planned to defend him at trial with Lisa Wayne, the executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and, according to Holley, “one of my best friends and, more importantly, one of the most experienced and successful trial lawyers in the country.”
“She and Tory have met (on FaceTime) and have already established a rapport (and mutual admiration),” Holley wrote in a Sept. 6, 2022 email to Lanez’s business manager.
Holley also said Lanez wanted to add Mgdesyan to the team.
“Tory has known him for a long time and trusts him,” she wrote.
Holley told Judge Herriford in a Jan. 10 letter that she didn’t appear at Lanez’s trial because of an arbitration in Washington, D.C. that began in May and ended Dec. 16, referring to a hearing with Major League Baseball about pitcher Trevor Bauer’s suspension for sexual assault.
But the emails that Baez and Barhoma filed connect Holley’s trial absence to her once-private disagreement with Lanez over him wanting to blame Harris for the shooting.
Despite Bauer’s arbitration, Holley told Lanez’s business manager, Bryan Gott, in a Sept. 6 email that Lanez’s trial “will likely go forward in late November” and that they’d agreed “that I should have co-counsel for the trial.” She said Lanez approved Wayne’s retainer and requested Mgdesyan as co-counsel, too.
“I advised Tory that I need $175,000 for my trial fees, Lisa’s trial fees, the retainer for our expert(s) for the DNA/gun shot residue analysis and additional fees for our investigator, Russell Greene. He has approved the amount. I told him that he need not pay the entire amount at one time, but we will definitely need the entire amount to be paid before the start of the trial,” Holley wrote. “I would be very helpful if you could send $100,000 as soon as possible, so I can get Lisa, Russell and the expert some money. I need Lisa and the expert to start working ASAP. Let me know if you have questions or concerns.” (Also, my associate Kate Mangels will be assisting with the trial and the trial prep, but her fees are covered within my fees.)
Why did Holley reject the Kelsey defense?
While Barhoma and Baez argued Holley rejected Lanez’s “Kelsie defense” because of the bribery accusations against herself, the veteran criminal defense attorney’s assertion that the defense “was not a viable strategy” came amid several pieces of prosecution evidence that indicated Harris wasn’t the shooter and had instead acted to protect Megan.
The women’s friendship ended after the shooting, but they’d been best friends since they were students together at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. As Megan’s music career flourished, she hired Harris to be her assistant. They were in Los Angeles when the shooting occurred as Megan was filming the music video to Cardi B’s song WAP.
Prosecutors showed jurors texts from Harris to Megan’s bodyguard moments after the shooting that said, “Help” “Tory shot meg” “911”. They also had video from the police stop near Hollywood Boulevard in which Harris is being handcuffed and she tearfully asks Megan, “Megan, you OK?” as Megan, also in handcuffs, limps over to an ambulance. Then there’s a recorded phone call Lanez made to Harris when he was in jail on a gun charge and she was outside Megan’s hospital room, repeatedly apologizing and saying he’d gotten too drunk.
Prosecutors also showed jurors a post from the gossip powerhouse The Shade Room’s Instagram account in which someone commented, “People saying Kelsey shot her 😭” and Lanez’s account replied, “that’s not true”. A homeowner who witnessed the altercation testified that he saw two women fighting and believes gunshots originated from a woman, but he also testified that he saw Lanez fire “four or five” shots and unleash a “torrent of abuse” at a woman on the ground.
Holley’s email doesn’t explain why she believes the “Kelsie defense” isn’t viable, but she was aware of the prosecution’s evidence - sans the Instagram comment, which was disclosed late - when she wrote the email.
The theory that Harris shot Megan is one of two theories being pushed in the Internet warfare that engulfs the case. The other is that Megan was never actually shot and was in fact being truthful when she initially told police she’d merely stepped on glass.
In the song “Money Over Fallouts,” Lanez implies she’s lying, rapping, “Gotta see a couple questions: How the fuck you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?” Drake and 21 Savage also appear to push the falsehood in their song “Circo Loco,” in which Drake raps, “Bitch lies about getting shot, but she’s still a stallion.”
Mgdesyan, a licensed California attorney since 2003, never disputed Megan was shot. Instead, he pushed the so-called “Kelsie defense” from the first words of his opening statement, telling the jury: “Jealousy, ladies and gentlemen. This case is about jealousy.” He said in his closing argument that Lanez is a “victim” who was trying to break up a fight between two women and is now wrongly accused. He also repeatedly asked the jury of seven women and five men to consider why Megan didn’t publicly disclose sooner that she’d had sex with Lanez.
Smith, Lanez’s driver whom Holley referred to as “Quan” in the Nov. 21 email, never testified, nor did Lanez.
‘I am following every twist and turn of the trial’
Holley’s disagreement over the “Kelsie defense” didn’t end her business relationship with Lanez: A Dec. 9 email says she was still representing him regarding his alleged assault of singer August Alsina in Chicago. She told Lanez’s business manager she was holding $3,000 “for the Chicago criminal lawyer whose job will be to put out any fires in the Alsina criminal investigation.”
She also said she’d charge a $20,000 retainer for the civil mediation regarding Alsina then draw her hourly bills from it, while she charged a flat fee for the criminal case. She requested $30,000 for her trial preparation “when I thought I was going to try the case” and for her work with Mgdesyan, instead of the $175,000 she planned to charge him for trial. She also requested $10,000 for her investigator and said she’d “paid out” $76,250 from the money Lanez had already given her, the total of which was not disclosed in the public filings.
“I know we all have our fingers crossed that both the criminal trial and the August Alsina matter end successfully…And that those victories mark the end of Tory’s legal troubles,” Holley wrote.
She closed by assuring Lanez’s team “that I am always available to speak about these matters.”
“Tory is like family to me at this point. I’d like to think he feels the same,” Holley wrote.
Lanez replied on Dec. 14 at 10:56 p.m. — two days after trial began.
“Hey Shawn I will get this to my guys and figure out anything u need ! My dearest regards !” he wrote.
Holley responded, “I am following every twist and turn of the trial from my arbitration in DC!!”
Earlier that day, Harris had taken the stand and testified about the bribery accusations that Holley later cited when she told Lanez she was quitting. Harris was granted immunity by prosecutors, but her testimony turned into an about-face from her pre-trial interview with prosecutors in which she clearly identified Lanez as the gunman.
In the packed courtroom, Harris testified that she never saw Lanez fire a gun the night Megan was shot and had said things that weren’t true in the September interview. But she also denied shooting Megan and called accusations that she did so “ridiculous.” Jurors ended up hearing her entire 80-minute September interview uninterrupted after Judge Herriford agreed it was relevant evidence because of Mgdesyan’s questions about prosecutorial pressure.
Harris finished testifying on Dec. 15, the same day Spiro — Megan’s lawyer — told Holley he was investigating “a potential civil action” against Lanez and Harris and demanded Holley retain all related communications and financial records.
Holley’s Dec. 18 letter to Lanez served as both a notification of Spiro’s investigation and an announcement that she was quitting as his lawyer because of Harris’ testimony involving her in the alleged bribe.
She also withdrew from representing him regarding his alleged assault of Alsina.
“I will contact the mediator’s office and see if we can cancel the mediation. If not, I will speak with Paul about getting you excellent civil counsel to take over your representation in that matter,” Holley wrote. “If you have any questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to call. Otherwise, I wish you well in the case and in all other things.”
Five days later, the jury convicted Lanez of all three counts and he was remanded to jail. He then replaced Mgdesyan with David Kenner, the veteran criminal defense attorney who embraced a celebrated role in the hip-hop industry after getting Snoop Dogg acquitted of murder in 1996. But Kenner withdrew shortly before he appeared in Washington D.C. for ex-Fugees singer Pras Michel’s federal criminal trial, and Barhoma and Baez handled Lanez’s motion for new trial.
A push to seal, then a last-minute privilege waiver
Baez is a veteran trial lawyer from Miami, Florida, with high-profile wins for accused child killer Casey Anthony in 2011 and NFL football player and accused double murderer Aaron Hernandez in 2017. But he has little experience in post-conviction litigation or California state criminal law, as he acknowledged during last month’s hearing.
A licensed California attorney since 2017, Barhoma operates his own firm in Los Angeles and has also worked with attorney Aaron Spolin, who was the subject of an April Los Angeles Times investigation into an appeals practice the newspaper said “encouraged people to spring for pricey legal services that he knew or should have known had little or no chance of success.”
An online biography for Barhoma says he “raises any and all arguments that may assist the client … and does not rest until he has explored every route to a successful outcome.” He said in a March 2021 interview posted on the website VoyageLA that he believes Barhoma Law, P.C. is the best appellate and post-conviction firm in the United States.
“I would argue no other firm in the country can reasonably compete,” Barhoma said.
Barhoma followed the trial via social media like many others did, tweeting shortly after the verdict was announced, “I’m shook.” His accusations against Holley reflect his practice’s partial focus on ineffective assistance of counsel claims against lawyers who represented his clients before he did.
In a promotional video recently removed from YouTube, Barhoma said he sees ineffective assistance of counsel “all too often.”
He and Baez recognized the sensitivity of their claims against Holley, both during the hearing and when they moved to seal the filings related to them.
“Failure to seal the record regarding these items will hang out many of Mr. Daystar Peterson’s attorney-client confidences for every looming eye to observe. And that public scrutiny will not aid this Court in adjudicating Mr. Daystar Peterson’s violated Sixth Amendment rights,” Barhoma wrote.
Barhoma and Baez planned to call witnesses at the hearing, including Erin Joyce, a former state bar prosecutor and current ethics consultant who said in a declaration that she reviewed the case for $15,000 and concluded Holley was personally conflicted in her defense of Lanez after being named in relation to the leaked DNA discovery and Harris’ claims of an attempted bribe.
Joyce, who worked as an investigator for the Los Angeles Fire Department after leaving the state bar, questioned Holley’s stated reason to Lanez for not wanting to blame Harris for the shooting.
“Holley actually helped Mgdesan [sic] craft the Kelsey defense for the upcoming trial, so her reluctance to pursue the defense as trial counsel appears suspect,” Joyce wrote.
Baez and Barhoma reluctantly accused Mgdesyan of ineffective assistance of counsel but emphasized it was because he was unduly influenced by Holley’s alleged conflict. But at the same time, Baez indicated he disagreed with key aspects of Lanez’s trial defense, including Mgdesyan’s focus on what happened at Jenner’s house before the shooting. He criticized testimony that said “Tory was going between Megan and Kylie.”
“So now this rapper who has the negative label of being a misogynistic individual is now going from woman to woman in this proceeding. None of that is relevant. All of that is prejudicial,” Baez said.
As is standard in California state court, Judge Herriford didn’t allow witnesses during the motion hearing. He also wouldn’t allow Barhoma and Baez to discuss in public court the issues raised in the sealed filings. That’s what prompted Barhoma and Baez to persuade Lanez to waive the very privilege the lawyers cited when they asked that his emails with Holley be sealed from public view.
Lanez waived his privilege well into the five-hour hearing on May 8. By that time, Herriford made clear he was not persuaded by the arguments Barhoma and Baez were making, but Baez and Barhoma appeared to be holding out hope for a change of heart.
When they first discussed a possible waiver, Herriford emphasized that all filings would be pushed into the public realm.
“I think the public has a right to see it. The D.A. has the right to see it. Everyone has a right to see it,” the judge said.
Links to all documents — including Holley’s emails, Spiro’s letter to Holley and Lanez’s supplemental filing — are available below for paid subscribers. As a longtime reporter, I can confidently say I would not be able to report and write this article were I not working independently. Your paid subscriptions make my work possible. Please consider purchasing a paid subscription to support my work. Thank you.
Meghann THEE Reporter :-) Very informative article.
Great reporting! No idea what Holley's strategy was going to be but it HAD to be better than Mgdesyan, Barhoma, & Baez. The latter three have caused Tory to "shoot himself in the foot" multiple times (pun not intended, just the best description after Kelsey's September 2022 testimony was played in court & now this email correspondence has been released publicly).