Stabbed in Prison, Suing for $100M: California Now Says Tory Lanez Assumed the Risk
California prison officials answered Tory Lanez's $100M stabbing lawsuit on Oct. 7, saying he consented to his housing, assumed the risk and contributed to his own injuries. Tory says he was stabbed 16 times in a 2025 attack the prison should have seen coming.
Tory Lanez says the state almost let him die in prison. Now the state says he signed up for the risk.
Tory, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, is suing California prison officials for $100 million over the May 12, 2025, stabbing at California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. His lawsuit calls it an "unprovoked life-threatening attack" by another inmate, Santino Casio. It says he was stabbed 16 times, suffered collapsed lungs and was left with permanent scars. His team first reported 14 stab wounds after the attack.
On Oct. 7, acting warden T. Valdez answered the amended complaint in federal court in the Central District of California. The California attorney general's office filed it for him. AllHipHop first reported the filing, and Miixtapechiick, DancehallMag and HotNewHipHop have since reported on it.
In the filing, the state says Tory "consented to his prison housing classification and assignment and assumed any risk alleged to be associated with that housing." It also says he "caused and contributed to the claimed injuries and damages through his own acts, omissions, and legal fault," and that Casio's attack was a "superseding, intervening cause" of his injuries.
The warden doesn't deny the stabbing happened. The filing says Tory was stabbed by Casio "with an inmate-manufactured weapon" during an altercation, and that he was taken outside the prison for emergency care before he was moved to California Men's Colony. DancehallMag reported the filing also concedes Casio had a history of breaking prison rules.
Valdez denies that he or his staff violated Tory's rights. He's asking for a jury trial, and he wants Tory to cover his legal costs and attorney's fees if the state wins. No trial date has been set.
Tory's side says the prison knew, or should have known, that housing Casio with him was dangerous.
These are claims and defenses in an open civil case. Nothing has been decided.
Tory is still serving a 10-year sentence for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.
So is this on Tory or on the prison?
Sources: AllHipHop (exclusive, Oct. 2026); Miixtapechiick; DancehallMag (Oct. 11, 2026); HotNewHipHop (Gabriel Bras Nevares, Oct. 11, 2026). Photo: Tory Lanez during a prison visit for his 34th birthday, shared on Instagram by his friend Aggy Abby (July 27, 2026).