Tay-K’s legal team is asking to temporarily halt the appeal of his conviction in a San Antonio murder case, in which he was sentenced to 80 years in prison, in order to get details about the legality of an old search warrant.
As detailed in court documents viewed by Complex, the legal team for the 26-year-old rapper, real name Taymor Travon McIntyre, is hoping to get clarity on issues surrounding key evidence in the case.
Tay-K’s team takes issue with a search warrant for an iPhone that law enforcement found inside a car that they believed was associated with the murder of photographer Mark Anthony Saldivar.
During the rapper’s trial, he filed a motion to suppress the results of the search, arguing that authorities did not have probable cause. That motion was denied by the trial court.
What Tay-K is asking for now is for this new appeals court to order that same trial court to give more detail about their decision — to issue “findings of fact and conclusions of law” — so that he see how to approach this issue in his appeal.
“The need for detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law is essential to this case,” their new motion reads. “Although the trial court made some off hand comments about the existence of probable cause, Counsel respectfully submits these remarks are insufficient for full and fair appellate review of McIntyre’s suppression claims. Without concise, written findings of fact and conclusions of law, it is impossible to adequately brief the suppression issues raised by this appeal.”
This motion, the legal team said, is not intended to delay a brief laying out their theory of the case, which is due on July 1. Instead, it’s simply to allow Tay-K a fair shake at an appeal.
If the fact-finding isn’t ordered, his legal team has as an alternative requested a two-week delay to allow more time to complete their brief.
Tay-K’s attorneys filed an appeal of the verdict in May, 2025, one month after he was sentenced to 80 years for Saldivar’s murder. They argued that one of his alleged accomplices in the murder, Joana Reyes, was not a trustworthy witness in the trial. Reyes previously testified that Tay-K fired the fatal shot that killed Mark Anthony Saldivar. In the appeal, his lawyers said that prosecutors misrepresented her legal record, leaving the jury in the case with a “total misimpression” of her apparent credibility.
Tay-K is also serving a separate prison sentence for his involvement in the 2016 home invasion that claimed the life of Ethan Walker. He received 55 years in prison in that case in 2019, which is running concurrently with the 80-year sentence. He appealed the decision, but the initial judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas. The Texas rapper exploded into public consciousness with the release of his song “The Race” in 2017, which was released as he was evading authorities. He is currently listed as not eligible for parole until 2049.
