ASCENSION PARISH, La. — Mystikal, a Louisiana rapper and a three-time Grammy Award nominee, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a rape charge in March.
The “Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against The Wall) singer, 55, is legally known as Michael Tyler Lawrence. He was sentenced for third-degree rape, five years less than the maximum punishment, WBRZ reported.
Mystikal’s sentence was capped at 20 years in March when he agreed to a plea agreement. He was originally arrested for first-degree rape stemming from a 2022 incident. Other charges originally filed included simple criminal damage to property, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery and false imprisonment, according to Variety.
By accepting a plea agreement, Mystikal was able to avoid a mandatory life sentence, WBRZ reported.
On Tuesday, the victim appeared in court and asked for a maximum sentence to be levied, according to Variety. She said that Mystikal “choked her, pulled braids out of her hair and forcibly raped her.”
After she was finished, Mystikal addressed the court.
“If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” he said, according to Variety.
Mystikal faced similar domestic abuse charges in 2004 after sexually assaulting his hairstylist, according to Variety. He spent six years in prison and was required to register as a sex offender, WBRZ reported. In 2012, he served a three-month jail term for misdemeanor domestic abuse charges; in 2017 he was charged with rape and kidnapping, but the charges were dropped, the entertainment news outlet reported.
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