After three hours of deliberating, a Texas jury sentenced Tay-K to 55 years in prison Tuesday (July 23) and ordered him to pay $21,000 in fines for his involvement in a 2016 home invasion that left a young father dead. The jury also sentenced the rapper born, Taymor McIntyre, to 30 years for aggravated robbery, two additional 13-year sentences for the remaining two aggravated robbery charges, plus $8,000 in fines.
The 19-year-old recording artist whose track, “The Race,” went viral while he was on the run from authorities, and charted on the Billboard Hot 100, must serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. The sentences will run concurrently because he was a minor at the time of the crimes, Texas news station NBC 5 reports.
The teen was convicted of participating in the Texas armed robbery that resulted in 21-year-old Ethan Walker being shot to death. Walker’s roommate was also shot, although not fatally, and another person was injured.
According to The Fader, Tay-K’s lyrics on “The Race” and screenshots from the music video were used as evidence in the trial. Walker’s mother testified during the trial as well, and his father shared an emotional statement in court last Friday (July 19) after Tay-K was found guilty.
“I have tried to live a good life and I know hate is a very negative emotion but right now there are three people I hate,” Richard Walker said according to the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. “One is the planner, one is the person who pulled the trigger and one is the person who profited off of this and saw this as a career move,” he said in reference to Tay-K and a handful of others involved in the deadly robbery.
“Every lyric to ‘The Race’ is stained with my son’s blood. Every ‘free Tay-K’ T-shirt that was ever sold has my son’s blood on it,” Walker added. The victims and their family members have reportedly filed lawsuits against Tay-K to block him from profiting off of the song.
In addition to his current legal predicament, Tay-K faces burglary and capitol murder charges stemming from two separate incidents.