Rapper Mystikal Receives 20-Year Prison Sentence After Guilty Plea

After rapper Mystikal pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges, the Grammy-nominated musician was sentenced to 20 years of prison for third-degree r---, with no chance of an early release or probation (as per legal experts). The initial charge of a first-degree r--- was knocked down after he entered a plea deal.

He had also faced charges including simple robbery, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property, all stemming from the same 2022 arrest. These charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. The victim reported these crimes at the hospital where she was being treated for these injuries. Mystikal, legally known as Michael Lawrence Tyler, was arrested in the summer of 2022.

The victim told a Louisiana Courtroom that she wishes that Tyler be given the maximum sentence possible, as reported by WBRZ. Third-degree r--- can carry a maximum twenty-five-year sentence. The victim alleged that Tyler pulled her braids, punched her, and choked her before sexually assaulting her. After she spoke, Tyler said, “If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” as reported by Variety.

While Tyler entered the plea deal in March, he tried to exit the deal on Friday by filing a motion. The withdrawal came as the rapper claimed that he “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences” before he decided to confess to the crimes that he was accused of. Without a plea deal, Michael Lawrence Tyler would have been facing a life sentence. He is currently 55 years old.

The altercation between the victim and the rapper involved the latter robbing the woman as well. According to police reports, Tyler only allowed her to leave after she transferred money to him via CashApp.

The rapper has been previously accused of and convicted of sexual battery towards his hairstylist, for which he served six years in prison between 2003 and 2010. According to an Associated Press report, the rapper was held at the Caddo Correctional Center between 2017 and 2019 for his involvement in a sexual assault and kidnapping case. He was released on a $3 million bond.

The rapper’s victim remained unnamed in the police reports. This would be the third long-term imprisonment that the rapper is subjected to, with it being the longest and most rigorous detention that he has received.