California’s answer to Tory Lanez getting stabbed 16 times behind bars? He more or less signed up for it. In an October 7 court filing, prison officials argue the rapper “consented to his prison housing classification and assignment and assumed any risk alleged to be associated with that housing.”
That defense comes from T. Valdez, the acting warden at California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi and one of the defendants in Tory’s $100 million lawsuit. The California attorney general’s office filed the response on Valdez’s behalf, as first reported by AllHipHop.
What the filing doesn’t do is explain what Tory, legal name Daystar Peterson, actually agreed to or when he supposedly agreed to it.
It also never says if he was housed in general population or protective custody, which is a pretty big gap for an argument built on consent.
Tory’s version reads very differently. His suit calls the May 2025 incident an “unprovoked life-threatening attack” by fellow inmate Santino Casio and says “the choice to house Casio with Peterson was known or should have been a known danger.
Valdez doesn’t dispute that the stabbing happened. The filing confirms Tory was stabbed by Casio “with an inmate-manufactured weapon” during an altercation. It also concedes Casio had a history of breaking prison rules and that officers have a general duty to protect inmates.
The state stacks more defenses on top of that. One argues Casio’s actions were “a superseding, intervening cause” of the injuries, putting the blame on him instead of prison staff.
Another claims Tory “caused and contributed to the claimed injuries and damages through his own acts, omissions, and legal fault.”
Valdez is also claiming qualified immunity, the legal shield that can protect government officials from personal liability. Back in July, the corrections department leaned on the Eleventh Amendment, arguing the state can’t be sued for damages in federal court under the claims presented.
The attack happened around 7:20 a.m. on May 12, 2025, inside a prison housing unit, according to FOX 11.
Tory’s team first reported 14 stab wounds, seven in his back, and two collapsed lungs. The lawsuit later put the count at 16 and said he was airlifted to a hospital.
Casio has his own story. He told TMZ he acted in self defense after hearing rumors of a bounty on his head and spotting a suspicious bulge in Tory’s pocket.
Tory’s lawyers shot that down hard. They called any contrary claim, “particularly from an individual serving a life sentence for heinous crimes,” “not only baseless but an absurd fabrication.
His father, Sonstar Peterson, told NewsNation’s CUOMO on May 21 that Tory “never provoked this incident in prison.” He also worried his son’s fame would invite rumors that spin the story into something else, like claims that Tory “went crazy in the prison.”
Tory was moved to California Men’s Colony after the stabbing and is still serving a ten year sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
Meanwhile, Valdez wants the federal court to make Tory cover his defense costs and attorney’s fees if the warden wins.
