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Megan Thee Stallion's ex-best friend told prosecutors in September 2022 that Tory Lanez shot Megan. Her interview was played in court after she refused to answer key questions on the stand.

Dec 17, 2022, 10:58 IST
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Megan Thee Stallion testified Tuesday in Tory Lanez's trial on assault charges.(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
  • Megan Thee Stallion's former best friend offered waffling testimony in court earlier this week.
  • Kelsey Harris testified in rapper Tory Lanez's trial on assault charges for two days.
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Prosecutors on Friday resorted to playing audio from their September 2022 interview with Megan Thee Stallion's former best friend and assistant Kelsey Harris in rapper Tory Lanez's trial on felony assault charges, after two days of testimony from the key witness.

Prosecutors called Harris to the stand on Wednesday and Thursday and asked for her recollection of events on July 12, 2020, the night of the shooting.

Harris appeared reluctant on the stand and was largely unhelpful to prosecutors who were trying to clarify key information about the shooting.

On Friday, following what prosecutors called inconsistent statements on the stand, prosecutors were able to play Harris's entire September 2022 interview with Los Angeles investigators for jurors. Judge David Herriford initially did not allow the interview to be played in full, but decided late on Thursday to let the prosecution use it after Harris's testimony had finished.

Harris spoke to prosecutors on September 14, 2022, more than two years after the shooting incident, meeting with Deputy District Attorneys Kathy Ta and Alexander Bott, Senior Investigator Jody Little, and two of Harris's attorneys, with her husband also in attendance. In the interview, Harris recalled the night of the incident and going to a small gathering at Kylie Jenner's house.

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The prosecution is trying to prove that Lanez shot Megan's feet during the early morning hours of July 12, 2020, in Calabasas, California after a small party at Kylie Jenner's house.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office charged Lanez in 2020 with assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. On December 6, 2022, Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, was also hit with a new charge of discharging a firearm with gross negligence relating to the conflict. He faces up to 22 years in prison if found guilty.

The rapper pleaded not guilty and denied that he shot Megan. Lanez's attorney has tried to insinuate that Harris shot the gun, and has denied that Lanez shot Megan.

During her testimony, Harris denied the notion pushed by Lanez's team that she shot Megan, something Lanez also denied about Harris separately in an Instagram comment shown in court.

However, when it came to answering prosecutors' questions on Wednesday and Thursday, she said that she struggled to remember central parts of the night and the DA interview, saying that she had not been "truthful" while talking to prosecutors during interviews. However, she did not specify what was truth or fiction.

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"I don't want to be here today, it's a triggering situation," Harris told the court on Wednesday.

During Lanez's defense lawyer George Mgdesyan cross-examination of Harris, he asked her if she told prosecutors what they "wanted to hear" in the September interview, later opposing the playback of the interview in court.

The prosecution presented the recording on Friday, following accusations from the defense team that Harris was pressured into speaking.

Investigator Little, who was present during the DA interview, said in her testimony that Harris seemed "very comfortable, very warm" after the prosecution played the recording aloud for the court. On Friday, the defense countered while cross-examining Little, that sometimes people may lie in interviews to protect themselves.

Harris's DA interview contradicts what she said in court

On Wednesday in court, Harris said she never saw the shooting.

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In the September interview with the district attorney, Harris claimed that Lanez shot Megan, that Lanez "physically assaulted" her, and that Lanez offered the two women money. On Thursday, a surgeon who operated on Megan after the shooting also testified that she still had bullet fragments lodged in her foot.

Harris said that she arrived at the party with Megan, whose real name is Megan Pete, and Megan's hair stylist, EJ. Harris said there were less than 10 other people in attendance, including Kylie Jenner's three best friends, Kris Jenner's partner, Odell Beckham Jr. and a friend, and a couple of others. They had been drinking and playing beer pong and ended up hanging out in the pool.

"It was a point in time that I lost my consciousness," Harris said in the September 2022 interview. "By the time I came back to my senses, Tory's now here," adding that Megan had invited him.

In Harris' interview, she said that she and Megan left with Lanez and an argument ensued, according to Harris' interview. She recalls Lanez telling Megan, "Why don't you tell her what kind of friend you are?"

Harris said that the group started arguing because Megan had been intimate with Tory despite trying to hook Harris up with him. At first, they were calm, she said, but the arguing resumed after Lanez's car had asked his driver to pull over for the first time. Harris said Megan and Lanez began arguing about "their artistry," when Lanez told Smith, the driver, to "let these hoes out, get these bitches out the car."

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In the interview, Harris described the night of the shooting

In her DA interview, Harris recalled the vehicle stopping for a second time amid the arguments and Lanez shooting almost immediately after the car stopped at a bus stop near the house. She said through tears in the DA interview that Lanez pulled her hair "really hard" and hit her.

"He was leaning over the front passenger door and shooting the gun...Megan looked like a deer in headlights," Harris said. "I was really hurt...my adrenaline was high. I had bruises. When I say I was hurt, I mean emotionally."

When pulled over by police after the shooting, Harris said Lanez was "saying things like 'please don't say anything.'" And during the encounter with the police, Harris said in the interview she went straight to thinking about Megan.

"I didn't even care to speak on myself, which I almost regret," she says about not telling the authorities about her injuries, which had been brought to the court's attention in a text exchange on Thursday. Harris told the prosecutors in the interview that Lanez apologized multiple times after the incident — the first in a phone call in jail, and another when she met up with him after the incident to pick up her things.

"This night was a night gone bad. Alcohol was involved, and I know he regretted it," she told the prosecutors in the September interview. Harris said Lanez reached out to her a couple of times over a period of time after the shooting offering to give her a job or pay for a lawyer, attempts she said she denied.

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Immediately after the shooting, Harris said she was "shut out" by Megan and her team, making her feel "confused." Harris had just moved to Los Angeles as Megan's assistant and gotten rid of her apartment in Houston, and in the interview added that she didn't feel that Megan had done enough to dispel rumors that she shot her ex-best friend.

"I'm upset because she never cleared my name, never protected me," Harris said in the interview. "I have nothing to hide," she added.

When asked by Deputy DA Kathy Ta in the recording why she decided to be a part of the interview, Harris responded: "I just want to free myself from this."

"I'm ready for the facts to come out," she added.

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