by Sabrina M. Parker
(excerpted from the June 2009 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine) 

The state of Louisiana released Leland Ellis from prison about a year ago. In a recent phone conversation with Sister 2 Sister Publisher Jamie Foster Brown, the former bodyguard for rapper Mystikal (born Michael Tyler) described some of the things he missed while he was locked up for three and a half years.
“It hit me harder than anything in the world because I got a letter like in the movie Life,” Leland said. “I thought it was a joke when they read that letter to me telling me my grandmother, my grandfather, my uncle, my aunt, my cousin, my mama—everybody dead. I thought it was a joke, but it was reality.”

If Leland had the knowledge on July 3, 2002, that he has now, he would not have spent those years of his life behind bars. Mystikal asked Leland and Vercy Carter, another bodyguard who worked for Mystikal, to come over to his house. There, all three men had what they believed was consensual sex with Mystikal’s hairstylist. Leland, who reportedly received oral sex on tape, operated a video camera to record it all.

Mystikal’s lawyer J. David Bourdin offered authorities an affidavit signed by the stylist that confirmed she had consensual sex, but the paper didn’t protect them from being charged with rape. Mystikal eventually copped a plea and was sentenced to six years for sexual battery against the infirmed, meaning weak in body or health. Leland and Vercy pled guilty to the same offense and were sentenced to three and four years respectively. They’re both out and readjusting to life while Mystikal continues to serve his sentence. He’s scheduled for release in January 2010.

Read Leland's full story in the June 2009 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine to see why he thinks sex offenders are treated worse than murderers.