Meek Mill sentenced to 2-4 years for violating probation in a 2008 case he already beat
Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill was sentenced to two to four years in a state penitentiary stemming from a probation violation related to his 2008 gun and drug charges, even though Mill has complied with most of his conditions of probation. The judge in the case, Grenece Brinkley, ruled that a failed drug test and a failure to notify his probation officer before traveling outside of the state were the violations that mattered. Even though the prosecutors in the case recommended that Meek Mill face no prison time, Judge Brinkley has a different interpretation of what Mill needs. Brinkley insists that Meek Mill just does whatever he wants, despite her attempts to help him over the course of a decade.
Meek Mill’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina says that he will appeal the decision because, in his eyes, this ruling is proof that Brinkley harbors a grudge against the Philadelphia rapper. In a Billboard interview, Tacopina says that Brinkley demanded that Meek Mill re-record a Boyz II Men song, leave Roc Nation and sign with a friend of hers in court.
When asked about Meek Mill’s severe sentence for such a light violation, Tacopina said:
A typical violation because the underlying cases were dismissed [Laughs]. By the way, district attorneys and probation officers are not Meek Mill’s allies. They’re not his friends, but they’re people who prosecuted him. They recommended no jail. When you have that and a judge does that combined with her private and individual acts and inappropriate requests and inappropriate actions, it’s obvious to anyone that’s been on the justice system at either side of the table what’s going on.
I mean, there was a chief probation officer who last year testified at the hearing that Meek didn’t commit a violation and that he thought he was compliant and so on and so forth, she found him incredible at the hearing. This is a probation chief, 30 year supervisor, [found him] incredible at the hearing and sure enough, he was removed from the case. So, anyone who disagreed with [Judge Brinkley] or said anything decent about Meek, was removed from the case.