One of the central issues of Meek Mill’s recent legal troubles has been the question of the judge presiding over his case. The rapper was sent to prison in November 2017 for violating the terms of his probation stemming from a decade-old case; he was released in April and is seeking a new trial. Since the beginning, Meek’s lawyers have argued that Judge Genece Brinkley is biased against him and has acted in unethical ways. Meek has been trying to plead for a new judge to hear his case, but new information released by TMZ suggests this won’t happen.
A separate state court judge in Philadelphia denied Meek’s bid for a new judge on Wednesday on the grounds that he could not overrule another judge of “equal standing,” arguing that he “wear[s] the same robe as [Judge Brinkley] does.” Still, Meek's lawyers will keep trying to get a retrial.
In a statement provided to Complex, Meek’s attorney Joe Tacopina said:
“Judge Tucker thoughtfully considered our application to reassign this case to Judge Woods-Skipper, so that it is treated the same as the 2,000 other PCRA petitions that have come before it. While he ultimately ruled that he did not believe he had the authority to do so, we respectfully disagree and will immediately ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reassign the case.”
Just last week, Brinkley went against legal precedent by refusing the Philadelphia District Attorney’s request to overturn Meek’s drug- and weapons-related conviction and grant him a new trial and ordering an evidentiary hearing on June 18. In December 2017, social justice organizations also accused Judge Brinkley of “inappropriate and unethical conduct” that included failing to disclose financial information required by state law.
As if that wasn’t enough, it was previously reported that the Philly D.A. kept a “secret list” of police officers with a shady past—including a history of lying, racial bias, and/or brutality—and Reginald Graham, the officer who arrested Meek in 2007, and who was the only witness to testify at the rapper’s trial in 2008, is on that list. From the looks of it, then, Meek still has a lot of twists and turns left in this legal case.
