The man who broke into Eminem’s home for a second time has been convicted of first-degree home invasion and aggravated stalking.
Matthew David Hughes was found guilty during a court hearing on Wednesday in Macomb, Mich., where Eminem (legal name Marshall Mathers) was also in attendance to testify. Hughes, 32, was arrested in August 2024 after he was spotted on the rapper’s Clinton Township property in the northern suburb of Detroit.
Hughes will be sentenced on June 17.
Macomb County Sheriff’s Office
Matthew David Hughes
Hughes was previously charged with home invasion when he entered the rapper’s very same abode in 2020. Eminem awoke and found Hughes, whom he initially thought was his nephew, in his home. A Clinton Township officer testified that Hughes informed Eminem that he was “there to kill him.” He was charged with first-degree home invasion and sentenced to five years of probation. Hughes was released on parole in May of last year with a supervision discharge date set for June 19, 2026.
In the most recent home invasion that led to his August arrest, Hughes did not have contact with the rapper. Hughes also served a prison term after he broke into one of Eminem’s former properties in Rochester Hills in 2019, which was by then occupied by a new homeowner.
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Eminem performs on stage during the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 11, 2024 in New York
At the hearing Wednesday, Steven Fox, an assistant prosecutor for Macomb County, told the jury that the ordeal has led the rapper to experience emotional distress and anxiety. Eminem “has taken extraordinary steps to protect himself and his family” with 24/7 security, Fox said, per Macomb Daily, but “each time that step has had to increase as the result of one person’s actions: Matthew Hughes. The world becomes smaller. He’s on an island.”
The saga has eerie parallels to one of the musician’s early hits “Stan” from his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP, which concerns an obsessive fan who bombards him with a series of disturbing messages.
The case is the second celebrity stalking case to have reached the courts this week. A Mississippi man accused of stalking and harassing Jennifer Aniston through social media, email, and voicemail was charged Thursday after authorities said he drove and crashed a car through the front gate of Aniston’s home in Los Angeles.
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