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The woman who is suing Metro Boomin for sexual assault has already requested a mistrial on the first day of trial.
On Tuesday, September 23, the Grammy Award-winning producer, born Leland Wayne, appeared at a courthouse in Los Angeles as the jury heard opening statements. According to Billboard, the civil lawsuit was filed by Vanessa LeMaistre, who claimed she took Xanax and alcohol during a recording session at his studio in 2016 and woke up to him raping her. Metro denied her allegations and asserted that their sexual activity was consensual. He argued that the lawsuit was part of a “classic celebrity shakedown” that LeMaistre created while high on ayahuasca.
During the opening statements, Metro Boomin's defense attorneys mentioned that the producer and LeMaistre had consensual sex before the alleged attack in his studio. The comments about LeMaistre's alleged sexual history with the defendant prompted her attorney, Michael Willemin, to file a motion for a mistrial following the first day of trial. Attorneys on both sides are usually required to ask the judge overseeing the case if they can include prior sexual activity that's not related to the case. Willemin argued Metro Boomin's legal team did not request approval from the judge before they mentioned LeMaistre's alleged sexual encounter, which she denied.
“If plaintiff’s counsel was provided fair warning and a [hearing] was held, the claim that plaintiff engaged in consensual sex with the defendant prior to the sexual assault would have been precluded,” Willemin wrote. “And, even if the court made the determination that the claim of consensual sex pre-dating the sexual assault was far more probative than prejudicial, plaintiff would have known such information was going to be permitted and would certainly have addressed it in plaintiff’s opening statement.”
LeMaistre sued Metro Boomin in 2024, eight years after the alleged encounter. The 38-year-old self-proclaimed shaman said Metro invited her to his studio to watch him in action. She claimed she blacked out after she took a shot of liquor and half a tablet of Xanax. She later woke up on a bed in a completely different location while the producer raped her. She claimed she got pregnant after the encounter and got an abortion several months later. LeMaistre also alleged the situation was mentioned in Metro's 2017 song “Rap Saved Me” with Offset, 21 Savage, and Quavo.
LeMaistre addressed Metro's allegations involving her ayahuasca trip during her testimony. The producer referred to journal entries she alleged wrote, in which she described a plot to sue him for over $3 million. LeMaistre asserted that she didn't hallucinate while on the psychedelic drug and insisted that it only helped her realize she was raped. Willemin argued that it would be impossible to remove Metro's defense attorney's statement from their minds. He urged Judge R. Gary Klausner to declare a mistrial and start the proceedings all over again.
Metro Boomin had some support on the first day of his trial. Young Thug was at the courthouse and sat in on the proceedings. He reportedly met with his trusted producer during their break. See photos of Thugger at Metro Boomin's trial below.