How many years did Tay-K get? Breakdown of sentencing explored as judge announces grim verdict

By Divya Singh Rana

Modified Apr 16, 2025 09:08 GMT

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Taymor Travon McIntyre, popularly known as Tay-K, was recently sentenced to 80 years in prison on April 15, 2025, for the murder of 23-year-old Mark Anthony Saldivar in San Antonio in 2017. The rapper's trial lasted two weeks, and District Court Judge Stephanie Boyd delivered the judgment.

McIntyre avoided getting convicted by a grand jury of Capital Murder, given that he was 16 at the time of shooting Mark Anthony in 2017. Had the rapper been convicted by a grand jury, there would have been chances of a life sentence in prison. While declaring the judgment on Tay-K's case, the judge considered his troubled childhood and mentioned:

“I do realize that while this is a lot of time, you’re still alive. You can still better yourself. But the complainant in this case is deceased, and you need to internalize that…You’re going to have to make changes.”

Prosecutors involved in the case mentioned that McIntyre shot Mark Anthony Saldivar after attempting to rob him. The facts of the case listed by authorities stated that the victim, a photographer, was picked up by the rapper in his car after asking him to take photos of him for a new track. It was alleged that McIntyre shot Saldivar in a Chick-fil-A parking lot.

Since the jury found McIntyre not guilty of capital murder, the rapper escaped life sentence without the chance of parole. On the contrary, the rapper's current sentence allows him the opportunity to seek parole.

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More details about Tay-K's recent murder trial explored amid news of rapper's sentencing

Despite authorities listing the facts of the case, Tay-K's attorneys criticized the police investigation, claiming that the case relied on self-serving statements from witnesses present in the rapper's car when the shooting took place.

On the other hand, during the trial's early stages, state prosecutors argued that the victim, Mark Anthony Saldivar, was beaten and shot. However, the rapper's attorneys alleged that the state prosecution's argument was based on guesswork and assumptions, claiming their witnesses had "vested interests".

Additionally, McIntyre's attorney, John Hunter, told jurors during the case's closing arguments:

“Taymor McIntyre is not guilty of capital murder, murder, or manslaughter, and the reason for that is very simple. You have to do it right. You have to do the work. And this case clearly demonstrates the work wasn’t done.”

During the final phases of determining a judgment for the case, the defence argued the amount of time McIntyre should spend behind bars. However, a forensic and neural psychologist from the end of the defence played an important role in the case, given that the professional testified to the rapper's mental abilities.

The neural psychologist stated that Tay-K came from generational trauma comprising violence, prostitution, and drug abuse, and that the rapper and his siblings were constantly rotating in foster care, consisting of abusive environments. Taking the same into consideration, District Judge Stephanie Boyd said:

"From what I can tell, his mother wasn’t a good parent to him. His father wasn’t a good parent to him. Child Protective Services was not good, and if you believe the testimony, I don’t know why Child Protective Services would place children back with a father who put the children’s mother in a hospital,"

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This is not the first case that Tay-K has been criminally convicted. Before the trial of the 2017 murder of Saldivar, the rapper was convicted of killing 21-year-old Ethan Walker during a home invasion in 2016. Tay-K received a 55-year prison sentence for the case, and the punishments of both his cases will run concurrently.