Mystikal pleaded guilty to third-degree rape on Tuesday, following his arrest for an alleged incident in Prairieville, Louisiana, back in 2022. He will face up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing hearing, which is currently scheduled for June.
The plea deal results in a far less severe sentence than Mystikal had originally faced. For charges of first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery, and false imprisonment, he was looking at the possibility of life in prison. He was set to begin trial on March 30.
Authorities indicted him on those broader charges in 2022, after a woman accused him of assaulting her in his home. She alleged that he raped, choked, and beat her after taking her keys and phone, preventing her from leaving. The woman claimed that Mystikal was experiencing drastic mood swings throughout the incident, switching between violent rage and apologies. It was while apologizing that he allegedly forced her onto the bed and raped her.
When she finally got free, she went straight to a hospital to report the injuries. “Once we got there, we talked to the victim, who had some very visible injuries on her body, and she was very distraught,” Donovan Jackson, spokesman for the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, told WAFB at the time. “She talked with us, we interviewed her, and she was able to identify who the suspect was. And in this case, it was Michael Tyler, also known as Mystikal.” Authorities have held Mystikal without bond since his arrest.
Mystikal's Past Legal Trouble
This isn't the first time Mystikal has found himself in legal trouble. In 2004, he was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of sexual assault and extortion. That conviction resulted in him having to register as a sex offender as well.
Mystikal has released several hit songs throughout his career. Both "Shake Ya Ass" (featuring Pharrell Williams) and "Danger (Been So Long)" (featuring Nivea) charted within the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 2000s.
