Sixteen stab wounds. A collapsed lung. A desperate medevac flight just to keep him breathing.
Daystar Peterson—known globally as platinum-selling rapper Tory Lanez—claims the California prison system effectively handed him a death sentence, and now he is demanding $100 million in federal court.
The 33-year-old musician has officially filed a massive lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), alongside the warden and guards at the Tehachapi facility where he was incarcerated. The core of his legal complaint is chilling: placing a highly visible celebrity directly in the crosshairs of a known, lethal threat.
A Target in the Yard
According to court documents first brought to light by TMZ, the near-fatal encounter happened on May 12, 2025. Lanez was allegedly subjected to an “unprovoked life-threatening attack” by fellow inmate Santino Casio.
Using a homemade shank, Casio allegedly unleashed a barrage of strikes, carving into the rapper’s face, head, back, and torso.
Casio was not an unknown risk. He was already serving a life sentence for second-degree murder and attempted murder. Even more damning for the prison’s security protocols, Casio’s file was allegedly packed with violent red flags, including a 2008 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon behind bars and another in 2018 for manufacturing prison weaponry.
Despite this extensive and chilling rap sheet, the facility housed them together. The lawsuit vigorously argues that forcing a global music star into proximity with a repeat violent offender constituted gross, foreseeable negligence.
Seconds Bleed into Minutes
When the violence finally erupted, the cavalry allegedly dragged its feet. Lanez’s legal team claims correctional officers mounted a sluggish, inadequate response to the bloodbath.
The lawsuit pointedly notes that guards failed to deploy standard riot-control measures—such as smoke bombs or flash grenades—to quickly neutralize the attacker and save Lanez from further injury. Remarkably, there is no public record of Casio facing new charges for the brutal assault, and his former attorney has remained silent on the matter.
Following the horrific incident, Lanez was quietly transferred out of Tehachapi and relocated to the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo County.
When pressed for answers regarding the attack, CDCR spokesperson Ike Dodson stated that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Stolen Rhymes and the Shadow of 2020
Beyond the physical and psychological scars, Lanez claims the prison system robbed him of his intellectual property. The lawsuit accuses guards of unlawfully seizing his personal songbooks. These pages were allegedly filled with unpublished, highly lucrative lyrics that the facility simply refused to return.
The fact that Lanez is behind bars at all stems from one of the most highly publicized trials of the decade.
He is currently serving a 10-year sentence connected to the July 2020 shooting of hip-hop icon Megan Thee Stallion. Following a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home, Megan testified that Lanez fired a weapon at her feet, demanding she dance. Surgeons later had to remove bullet fragments from both of her feet.
A Los Angeles jury ultimately convicted Lanez in December 2022 of three felony charges, including assault with a semiautomatic firearm. With his appeals rejected by California courts just last November, the artist’s legal battles have now dramatically shifted from fighting his own convictions to suing the very institution tasked with keeping him alive.