Thursday, March 28, 2024

Meek Mill Begins Prison Stint as Ethical Questions Surround Judge; Rapper to Appeal Sentence

Meek Mill mugshot (Nov. 8, 2017)
Meek Mill mugshot (Nov. 8, 2017)

*Meek Mill took a new mug shot Wednesday morning as he prepared to re-enter prison for his 2 to 4 year sentence on a probation violation.

It’s currently unclear where the rapper will serve his time. Officials at Pennsylvania’s Dept. of Corrections are reportedly keeping the location under wraps for security purposes, TMZ reports.

Mill had been on probation for a 2009 drug and gun case. He’s served time in jail and on house arrest for violating probation and parole since then. This year, he was arrested for reckless driving in New York and assault in St. Louis. Charges in both cases were dropped, but the arrests led to this latest 2-to-4 year sentence.

Attention has now turned to the Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court judge who handed down the sentence, which has been labeled by supporters as excessive. T.I. and Nipsey Hussle left encouraging messages for Meek suggesting that he remain positive, while JAY-Z called the sentence “unjust and heavy handed” in a Facebook post.

On Tuesday, Meek’s attorney Joe Tacopina told Billboard that he plans to appeal the sentence and believes Judge Genece Brinkley is “enamored” with his client, alleging that Brinkley “showed up at his community service” and made the unusual request that Mill (born Robert Rahmeek Williams) remake Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee” with a personal shoutout to her and that he leave Roc Nation to sign with her friend.

“That, right there, was a totally inappropriate request,” said Tacopina.

Brinkley cited a failed drug test, as well as a failure to comply with a court order restricting the rapper’s travel and two unrelated arrests earlier this year — for an airport fight and reckless driving charge — as reasons for her sentencing, which was handed down despite a prosecutor’s recommendation that Mill not be imprisoned for the violations.

“I’m human. I’m not perfect,” Mill said to Brinkley in court on Monday, according to a report from Philly.com. “I’m asking for mercy. You gave me the ladder to do what I have to do to prevail in my struggle. I made it this far, I can’t really go back and start over.”

A new petition on Change.org called for Tom Wolf, Governor of Pennsylvania, to reevaluate Meek’s sentencing.

“Meek Mill has been a powerful voice in the community for our youth,” says the petition. “He has made positive contributions to many communities and programs, dedicating time and money to the cultivation of our youth and neighborhoods; even through his own adversities. He has continued to be dedicated and shown an immaculate work ethic, even at times when the system tried to prevent him from being able to tour, which is how he makes a living.”

 

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