Mystikal is asking a Louisiana judge to let him take back his guilty plea, a move that could put a possible life sentence back in play.
According to WBRZ, Michael Lawrence Tyler, better known as Mystikal, filed a motion Friday asking to withdraw his guilty plea in his 2022 rape case, just days before he was scheduled to be sentenced. In the filing, Mystikal says he “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences” before pleading guilty to third-degree rape in March. The motion also says he was “under significant emotional distress and felt substantial pressure to make an immediate decision.”
On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 20 years. The plea was supposed to limit his exposure. The outlet previously reported that Mystikal pleaded guilty to the reduced third-degree rape charge with a sentencing cap of 20 years. A judge ordered a presentence investigation after the March plea.
However, Louisiana law makes his pending withdrawal risky. Third-degree rape carries up to 25 years at hard labor without parole, probation, or suspension of sentence under state statute. But the original charge, first-degree rape, is a different monster. Under Louisiana law, first-degree rape is punishable by life imprisonment at hard labor without parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
That means if a judge allows Mystikal to withdraw his plea and prosecutors revive the original case, life could slide right back into the conversation.
The 2022 allegations were severe from the jump. WBRZ previously reported that an acquaintance said she was at Mystikal’s Prairieville home when he accused her of stealing money, then allegedly punched her, choked her, pulled braids from her hair, and took her keys and phone so she could not leave. She told investigators she found what appeared to be meth while searching for the money, and alleged Mystikal later forced her onto a bed and raped her before sending himself money from her phone.
This case also lands on top of a long criminal history that prosecutors and judges are unlikely to ignore. In 2003, Mystikal pleaded guilty to sexual battery and extortion involving his former hairstylist. In January 2004, a judge sentenced him to six years in prison. He was released in 2010 after serving that sentence, and the conviction required him to register as a sex offender, according to Billboard.
Then came more jail time. In 2012, Mystikal was ordered back to jail for a probation violation tied to a misdemeanor domestic abuse battery arrest. He served 81 days after being sentenced to 90 days.
He also faced rape and kidnapping charges in a separate 2017 case out of Shreveport, but those charges were later dropped.
For an artist whose legal history already includes a sex crime conviction, prison time, registration, probation trouble, and dismissed rape charges, this motion could either reset the chessboard or backfire badly.
Now the court has to decide whether Mystikal’s plea stands, or whether his attempt to undo it sends him back into a much harsher fight.
