Rapper Mystikal sentenced to 20 years in prison after raping woman in Louisiana

Rapper Mystikal — born Michael Lawrence Tyler — was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for third-degree rape in a 2022 case. He has been held without bond at the Ascension Parish Jail since 2022.

Tyler pleaded guilty in March. His attorney later filed to withdraw the plea, arguing he "did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences" and was "under significant emotional distress," but the filing was dismissed.

The encounter left the victim with minor injuries that required hospitalization. Prosecutors declined to pursue additional charges, including false imprisonment, simple criminal damage, simple robbery and domestic abuse battery by strangulation, through a nolle prosequi filing. A sheriff’s office press release said deputies responded to a hospital on July 30 at approximately 11:58 pm.

At the sentencing hearing, after the victim requested the maximum term, Tyler said, "If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence."

United States, Ascension Parish, Louisiana

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