The rapper Tory Lanez, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence over the shooting of fellow hip-hop artist Megan Thee Stallion, has filed a federal lawsuit against California corrections officials, seeking $100m after being stabbed in prison.
Lanez, whose name is Daystar Peterson, said in court papers that a fellow inmate at California correctional institution in Tehachapi stabbed him approximately 16 times on 12 May 2025 using a “home-made” shank. Peterson said he suffered stab wounds to his face, head, torso and back, resulting in “permanent scarring, along with two collapsed lungs”.
Peterson was airlifted to a hospital, where he was put on a ventilator, according to the suit. After Peterson was discharged from hospital, he was transferred to California Men’s Colony, a different state prison.
Peterson said California prison officials “knowingly” housed him with the prisoner who attacked him in contravention of correction protocols for housing and separating inmates according to risk factors.
Peterson alleged in the suit that because of the inmate’s criminal history and acts of violence behind bars, “the choice to house him alongside Peterson should have been a known danger”.
Peterson also alleged that prison staff were not present right away and that “it is unknown why response was delayed, allowing full attack”. He claimed that evidence shows “deliberate indifference to foreseeable violence”.
The California correctional institution was among several California prisons where some high-security sections were placed temporarily on a program restricting movement “in response to a surge in violence against staff and incarcerated persons” in March 2025, according to the California department of corrections and rehabilitation.
Peterson also said prison officials illegally seized books of original, unpublished lyrics “with substantial commercial value” while he was at hospital. His lawsuit is also demanding the “immediate” return of Peterson’s song books.
In a June 2025 grievance letter Peterson submitted to prison authorities that was filed alongside his lawsuit, he claimed staff “have constantly used various tactics to exploit me”.
“It should also be noted that I am an A-list celebrity. It should also be noted that my case is a public interest case that involves another celebrity of A-list status,” Peterson wrote.
“The attempt of assassination on my life could very easily … been a plot to steal my intellectual property which is and has been proven to be worth millions of dollars,” he also claimed on a grievance form.
Peterson in December 2022 was found guilty of three felonies for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet more than two years prior. The charges – assault with a semi-automatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence – could have resulted in a maximum 22-year prison sentence.
Megan Thee Stallion, legal name Megan Pete, told jurors that Peterson shot at the back of her feet with a handgun and yelled at her to dance as she walked away from a vehicle they were in, following a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills house. Pete had to undergo surgery to extract bullet fragments from her feet.
A California court rejected Peterson’s appeal in November, according to the Associated Press. Peterson’s civil attorney did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
The California department of corrections and rehabilitation said in an email: “CDCR does not comment on pending litigation.”
TMZ first reported on the lawsuit, AP said.
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