A Michigan man who repeatedly targeted Eminem has been sentenced to decades in prison.
Matthew David Hughes, 32, received two consecutive terms in Macomb County Circuit Court—15 to 30 years for first-degree home invasion and an additional 3 to 7½ years for aggravated stalking. The sentence also includes extra time for violating parole.
Judge Diane Druzinski imposed the sentence on June 17. Hughes was convicted in May following a brief trial where Eminem, born Marshall Mathers III, testified. The jury needed just one hour to return a guilty verdict. Hughes will get no credit for time served and is banned from coming within 500 feet of the rapper.
This marked the second time Hughes was prosecuted for breaking into Eminem’s Clinton Township home. The most recent arrest came in August 2023, three days after police said he was seen on the property again. Officers found Hughes at a local Walmart. He was living in a nearby motel and out on parole following a previous conviction tied to the same residence.
In the 2020 case, Hughes bypassed security, entered Eminem’s home, and startled the rapper awake. He allegedly told Eminem he was there to kill him. Hughes later took a plea deal and was sentenced to five years’ probation. But he violated that sentence after a separate arrest for assault, resulting in prison time.
He was released on parole in May 2024, with supervision scheduled through mid-2026. His return to Eminem’s home that August led to this harsher sentence.
Hughes’ repeated offenses mirror the obsessive behavior depicted in Eminem’s 2000 hit “Stan,” which explored the dangers of unchecked fandom. The timing is uncanny, landing in the same month as the 25th anniversary of The Marshall Mathers LP, the album that catapulted Eminem to superstardom.
In 2019, Hughes was also found sleeping in the guest house of a property Eminem once owned, a troubling prelude to the incidents that followed.
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