Mystikal, a Grammy-nominated rapper, has pleaded not guilty to charges of raping and choking a woman at his home in Louisiana, as well as drug possession, glamsquad reports
After the Monday hearing in Ascension Parish Court in Gonzales, Louisiana, about 15 miles from Baton Rouge, lawyer Joel Pearce stated that the 51-year-old performer, whose real name is Michael Tyler, is innocent of all charges.
He faces life in prison for first-degree rape, as well as simple criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery, possession of heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and Xanax, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The two indictments were read aloud in court, though Pearce told the Associated Press he hasn’t received copies. “My client doesn’t even do drugs, so he has absolutely no idea what they were talking about,” the rapper’s attorney, Michael Tyler, told the outlet.
Pearce also stated that he has no idea what Mystikal’s accuser is accusing him of damaging, though the Associated Press reported that the charge is for her broken Apple Watch band.
Bond may be discussed at Mystikal’s upcoming Oct. 17 hearing, according to Pearce. He also revealed that prosecutors intend to talk about the rapper’s 2003 guilty plea to sexual battery and extortion.
Mystikal was charged with aggravated rape at the time, accusing him of coercing his hairstylist into filming sex acts with himself and two bodyguards. According to BBC News, the Tarantula artist was later sentenced to six years in federal prison. He was released in 2010 and was forced to register in Louisiana as a sex offender.
According to the Associated Press, Mystikal was also indicted in 2017 on separate rape and kidnapping charges and spent 18 months in jail before being released on a $3 million bond. After a second grand jury declined to indict him, the charges against him were dropped.
“People keep saying it’s his third rape charge,” his attorney told the Associated Press on Monday, noting that Mystikal admitted guilt to a lesser charge in Baton Rouge. “And after a grand jury indicted him in Caddo Parish, they un-indicted him.”