New Orleans Rapper Receives Maximum Sentence After Guilty Plea To Third-Degree Rape
New Orleans rapper Mystikal was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree rape in connection with a 2022 assault at his Louisiana home.
The 55-year-old artist, whose legal name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, received the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement. He had originally faced first-degree rape and several other charges that could have carried a mandatory life sentence if convicted.
Tyler pleaded guilty in March in Ascension Parish court. The plea reduced the original charge and capped his sentence at 20 years. Shortly before sentencing, he attempted to withdraw that plea, arguing he did not have enough time to fully consider the consequences, but the court denied the request.
Victim Asked Court For Maximum Sentence
During Tuesday’s sentencing, the victim appeared in court and asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence. She told the court Tyler punched her, choked her, pulled braids from her hair and forcibly raped her, according to WBRZ.
After her statement, Tyler addressed the court.
“If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” he said, according to WBRZ.
The case stemmed from an August 2022 incident at Tyler’s home in Prairieville, Louisiana. Prosecutors said the original charges included first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property. Several charges were later dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Rapper’s Legal History Includes Prior Sex Crime Conviction
Mystikal rose to national fame as part of the No Limit Records era and became known for songs including “Shake Ya Ass,” “Danger (Been So Long)” and “The Man Right Chea.”
But his later career has been overshadowed by repeated criminal cases involving sexual assault allegations.
In 2004, Tyler was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty in a 2003 case involving the sexual assault of his hairstylist. He later registered as a sex offender.
He was also arrested in 2012 on a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge and later jailed for a probation violation connected to his earlier conviction. In 2017, he turned himself in on rape and kidnapping charges and remained jailed on a multimillion-dollar bond until 2019, when he was released. Those charges were ultimately dropped.
The 20-year prison sentence marks the latest and most serious consequence in Tyler’s yearslong legal history.
He has been held without bond since his 2022 arrest, according to the Associated Press.
