Rapper Mystikal — best known for his 2000 hit “Shake Ya Ass” — has been sentenced to two decades behind bars over a 2022 rape case.
According to ABC affiliate WBRZ, the Louisiana hitmaker was handed down a 20-year sentence on Tuesday for third-degree rape.
Per the outlet, the rapper, whose given name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, responded in court Tuesday after the victim requested the maximum sentence.
“If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” he said.
The Grammy-nominated rapper pled guilty in March in an Ascension Parish, Louisiana court — though on Friday, ahead of the sentencing, Tyler’s attorney filed documents asking to withdraw the guilty plea.
Per WBRZ, the motion stated that the musician “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences” of the plea deal prior to accepting it, which downgraded the charge from the intial charges of first-degree rape.
The filing — which was dismissed — insisted that Tyler, 55, was “under significant emotional distress and felt substantial pressure to make an immediate decision” when he agreed to the plea deal.
A rep for Tyler did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Tuesday evening.
Prosecutors in the case opted against pursuing additional charges, including false imprisonment, simple criminal damage, simple robber, and domestic abuse battery by strangulation and simple robbery, through a filing called as nolle prosequi, according to People.
The encounter, which took place in 2022, left the victim with minor injuries, for which she was hospitalized.
“According to Sheriff Bobby Webre, on July 30, at approximately 11:58 pm, deputies with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to an area hospital in reference to a sexual assault,” read a press release from the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office read at the time.
The rapper has been held without bond at the Ascension Parish Jail since 2022.
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