Mystikal Gets 20 Years After Guilty Plea in Rape Case

Mystikal was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty in a rape case tied to his Louisiana home in 2022. The sentence closes one phase of a case that had already been reduced from first-degree rape to third-degree rape before the hearing.

Michael Tyler Faces 20 Years

Michael Tyler, who performs as Mystikal, had entered the guilty plea in March to lesser third-degree rape charges after being arrested in 2022 on first-degree rape and false imprisonment allegations. He would have faced a life sentence if convicted on the original charges, and the plea turned a trial exposure into a fixed prison term.

The victim appeared in court on Tuesday and asked for the maximum sentence. She told the court Mystikal had “choked her, pulled braids out of her hair and forcibly raped her.”

Friday Motion Before Sentencing

On Friday, Mystikal filed a motion to withdraw his plea, saying he “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences” before confessing to the crime. The filing also said he was “under significant emotional distress and felt substantial pressure to make an immediate decision.”

After the victim spoke, he answered from the courtroom: “If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence.”

Ascension Parish History

The 2022 case also included accusations that he beat, choked and robbed a woman at his home in Ascension Parish, took her keys and phone, and forced her to send him money via CashApp before letting her leave. That history sat alongside earlier legal trouble: in 2004, he faced similar domestic abuse charges after sexually assaulting his hairstylist and later spent six years in prison, and in 2012 he was jailed for three months on misdemeanor domestic abuse charges.

A separate rape and kidnapping case filed five years later was dropped, but this sentencing leaves Tyler with a 20-year prison term in the current case and a narrower path after his failed attempt to undo the plea.