Rapper Tay-K has appealed against his 55-year jail term which he was sentenced to this week for his role in the murder of a 21-year-old man during a home invasion robbery in 2016.
The 19-year-old rapper, whose real name is Taymor Travon McIntyre, was found guilty of murder and three aggravated robbery charges by a jury in Tarrant County, Texas on Friday (July 19).
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram have reported the details about the 19-year-old’s sentencing, saying that, in addition to the murder sentence, McIntyre has also been issued with a $10,000 fine for that particular conviction. The paper have also reported that McIntyre has appealed against his conviction and sentence.
The Tarrant County jury also sentenced McIntyre to 30 years in prison and a $5,000 fine on one count of aggravated robbery, and 13 years in prison and a $3,000 fine for the remaining two counts of aggravated robbery in relation to the home invasion. The sentences will run concurrently.
McIntyre will have to serve at least half of the 55-year prison sentence before he can become eligible for parole.
The conviction relates to the murder of 21-year-old Ethan Walker in his Mansfield, Texas, home in 2016. McIntyre, who was 16 at the time entered the property with six others individuals. A second man, Zachary Beloate, was shot during the home invasion but survived. Latharian Merritt, the man accused of shooting Walker, was sentenced to life in prison last year. Sean Robinson, who was accused of shooting Beloate, pled guilty to murder in November last year and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Tay-K was apprehended after the robbery, placed on house arrest, and ordered to wear an ankle monitor.
On March 26, 2017, he tweeted: “fuck dis house arrest shit fuck 12 they gn hav 2 catch me on hood.” A few months later, on June 30, he released the music video for ‘The Race’, which he recorded while avoiding the authorities. The United States Marshals Service apprehended Tay-K that night in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Tay-K is facing a second capital murder charge in Bexar County, Texas, where officials allege that, while he was on the run, the rapper shot and killed a 23-year-old photographer named Mark Anthony Saldivar.
He is also facing a lawsuit from Owney “Skip” Pepe and his wife Barbara, who claim that Tay-K robbed and assaulted Skip on May 25, 2017 while the 65-year-old man was walking in Arlington’s Cravens Park. The suit reportedly states: “McIntyre then savagely beat the defenseless 65-year-old, leaving him unconscious with multiple broken bones and [a] brain bleed,” and that “McIntyre dragged Mr. Pepe’s body off the trail and left him for dead in the woods.”