Mystikal (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)
The mounting legal issues surrounding Mystikal just took another turn, as the rapper officially entered a plea regarding his previous July arrest for rape. During his arraignment hearing earlier today in Louisiana, Mystikal formally pled not guilty to charges of first-degree rape, false imprisonment, domestic abuse and more.
@RollingStone reports, after entering his not guilty plea, Joel Pearce, attorney for Mystikal, doubled down on his insistence that his client is innocent while questioning some of the charges against him, including charges of theft and drug-related offenses. “My client doesn’t even do drugs, so he has absolutely no idea what they were talking about,”Pearce said in a brief interview following the court proceedings.
As we previously reported, Mystikal was arrested back in July after a woman claimed that he sexually assaulted her and held her against her will. Following his arrest, Mystikal was charged with first-degree rape (which carries an automatic life sentence,) criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse, battery by strangulation, simple robbery, and multiple drug-related offenses.
Mystikal is currently being held at the Ascension Parish Prison where he has been since his arrest and he will remain there, as he has not been granted bail. Previously, attorney Pearce said after his client’s indictment, “It’s an indictment. It means nothing. We look forward to our day in court.”
You’ll recall that this is the third sexual assault case involving Mystikal, with his most recent one occurring back in 2017 that carried first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping charges.
