Though he insisted on maintaining his innocence publicly, Tory Lanez was more apologetic before he was sentenced to 10 years in jail, according to court transcripts.
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After the rapper was sentenced to a decade in prison following a guilty conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020, Tory Lanez told fans in an Instagram post that he “always will” maintain his innocence.
“I refuse to apologize for something that I did not do,” the Canadian told fans last Thursday.
But he sang a very different tune on Aug. 9 after his two-day hearing. Lanez–whose legal name is Daystar Peterson–spoke to Judge David Herriford for several minutes before he handed down his decision, asking for leniency and for a sentence that would allow him to “prove” himself.
In court transcripts obtained by PEOPLE, Peterson insisted he wasn’t asking for any special treatment, but still urged the judge to give him a sentence that wasn’t too harsh.
“I want to say that everything that I did wrong that night I take full responsibility for,” said Lanez to Judge Herriford in the courtroom. “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. “
He continued: “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. 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.”
Still, the rapper did not admit to shooting Megan Thee Stallion. Lanez was given approximately 10 months of credit for time he’s served since his conviction in December, according to the Associated Press.
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