Mystikal (born Michael Lawrence Taylor) has pleaded guilty to a third-degree rape charge and now faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to USA Today, the Grammy-nominated artist pleaded guilty to a single rape charge during a Tuesday (March 17) hearing in Louisiana’s Ascension Parish Court. The 55-year-old is set to be sentenced in June.
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Mystikal was arrested in July 2022 following an altercation with a woman at his Louisiana home, where he allegedly choked, assaulted, raped and robbed her. Following the incident, the victim was hospitalized for minor injuries.
Per WBRZ, Mystikal allegedly took the woman’s keys and held her at his home against her will until she sent him money via CashApp. He has remained in custody without bond since the arrest.
The “Shake Ya A—” rapper originally faced a myriad of other charges, including first-degree rape, felony domestic abuse by strangulation, false imprisonment, simple robbery and criminal damage to property. He would have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted on the first-degree rape charge.
Mystikal has a history of sexual assault allegations dating back to the 2000s. The New Orleans native was convicted of sexual battery and extortion of a hairstylist in 2004, after which the rapper served six years in prison until his release in 2010.
Mystikal faced another rape charge in 2017. In that case, he pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and kidnapping and was held at the Caddo Correctional Center before posting a $3 million bond in 2019. The charges against him were eventually dropped in 2020.
An attorney for Mystikal did not immediately return Billboard‘s request for comment.
