Mystikal Has Been Held Without Bond Since 2022 Indictment for First-Degree Rape

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2022 and has been updated with the latest developments in Michael Tyler’s (Mystikal) rape case, including his new trial date, ongoing detention, and recent court rulings. 

Mystikal, Michael Tyler, the three-time Grammy-nominated rapper, was indicted in 2022 on first-degree rape, domestic abuse by strangulation, drug possession, and multiple other charges. 

 According to The Advocate, on Sept. 6, 2022,  Michael Tyler received a sexual assault charge along with nine other criminal counts from an Ascension Parish grand jury. He remains in detention, has pleaded not guilty as of 2025, and faces a potential life sentence.

A judge in Ascension Parish most recently denied a bond request for Tyler on November 18, 2025, ruling he must remain in jail until his trial. Tyler remains in custody without bond and has a new trial date set for March 30, 2026. Another court hearing in the case is scheduled for January 21, 2026.

A judge in Ascension Parish most recently denied a bond request for Tyler on November 18, 2025, ruling he must remain in jail until his trial. Tyler remains in custody without bond and has a new trial date set for March 30, 2026. Another court hearing in the case is scheduled for January 21, 2026

Mystikal, whose real name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, is accused of first-degree rape, domestic abuse, strangulation and robbery following a financial dispute at his Prairieville residence on July 30. If convicted at trial, the 51-year-old faces a mandatory life sentence for the first-degree rape charge. He has entered not-guilty pleas and has been held at Louisiana's Elayn Hunt Correctional Center without bond since his 2022 arrest.

According to two indictments against him, Tyler has also been charged with individual counts of simple criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery, possession of heroin, illegal possession of Xanax, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Tyler appeared in court May 19, 2022 after the judge delayed his first court appearance in March. Lawyers on both sides of the case have been issued a gag order by the judge and Tyler's family declined to comment on the case. But his mother told reporters she was praying for her son.

"It's an indictment," Joel Pearce, Mystikal’s then attorney, said following the 2022 indictment. "It means nothing. We look forward to our day in court."

On May 19, 2025, Mystikal appeared in court for a status hearing, not to enter a plea as had been previously scheduled. His new attorney, Tiffany Myles Crosby, requested a delay in proceedings to become more familiar with the case.

Mystikal, who was previously signed to Master P’s No Limit Records in the ’90s, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 after pleading guilty to sexual battery. Prior to his sentencing, in July 2002, a hairstylist for the rapper claimed that he and his two bodyguards forced the woman to perform oral sex on them after not turning her into police for stealing $80,000 worth of the rapper’s checks.

Released in 2010 after a six-year imprisonment, Tyler was subsequently registered as a sex offender in Louisiana. One of the bodyguards, Leland “Pokie” Ellis, received three years in prison while the other, Vercy Carter, got four years. Tyler was sentenced to three months in prison for a second time in 2012 after a misdemeanor domestic abuse count. Per Tyler’s attorney, the incident was an “unfortunate incident” between two domestic partners “who have cared about each other for 10 years and also shared children."

In fall 2018, Mystikal and another man were charged with first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping charges, which were dropped in December 2020 after a second grand jury reviewed evidence from the case. In that time, the rapper spent 18 months in jail.