Photo Credit: Mystikal by Daniel Benavides / CC by 2.0
Rapper Mystikal has received a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to rape in a 2022 incident in his Louisiana home.
On Tuesday (June 16), rapper Mystikal, whose real name is Michael Tyler, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape. The 55-year-old was accused of raping a woman in his Prairieville, Louisiana, home in 2022. He appeared in court to receive his sentence after pleading guilty.
The victim, whose name has been withheld from the public, also appeared in court on Tuesday, asking the court to impose the maximum sentence. The rapper received five years less than the maximum sentence permitted by law.
In 2022, Tyler was arrested for first-degree rape and false imprisonment. This year, he agreed to a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of third-degree rape.
Last week, the musician reportedly filed a motion to withdraw his plea because he “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences,” and was “under significant emotional distress and felt substantial pressure to make an immediate decision.” The judge dismissed the motion.
Mystikal has had a history of trouble with the law. In 2003, the “Shake Ya Ass” artist was accused of sexually assaulting his hairstylist, to which he pleaded guilty to sexual battery and extortion. In 2004, he was sentenced to six years in state prison. He was released in 2010 and required to register as a sex offender.
Two years later, Mystikal was arrested again, this time on misdemeanor domestic abuse charges. He was held for nine days before being released on bail and was ultimately given a three-month sentence for violating the terms of his probation.
A few years after that, a warrant was issued for the rapper’s arrest, and he turned himself in to the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Department, where he was charged with rape. He was held on a $3 million bond until February 2019, when he was able to post bond. Those charges were ultimately dropped.
