Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley’s sentenced rapper Meek Mill to two to four years in prison for a probation violation Monday, drawing outcry from fellow entertainers and the hip-hop world.
Mill supporters were outraged at the sentence’s length, comparing it with other high-profile criminal cases that yielded shorter or no prison time.
“The sentence handed down by the Judge — against the recommendation of the Assistant District Attorney and Probation Officer — is unjust and heavy handed,” Jay-Z wrote Monday on Facebook. “We will always stand by and support Meek Mill, both as he attempts to right this wrongful sentence and then in returning to his musical career.”
Mill’s probation violations stem from a 2008 drug and gun conviction, for which he served eight months. The Philadelphia rapper, born Robert Williams, has since been in and out of Common Pleas Court Judge Genece E. Brinkley’s court for violating probation rules.
He was arrested twice in 2017, including for a March fight in a St. Louis airport (the charges were later dropped in exchange for community service). The rapper was also charged with reckless driving after video of him doing dirt-bike stunts on Manhattan streets was posted online.
The city prosecutor didn’t recommend imprisonment, saying Mill has been clean from drugs since January and has shown personal growth since the original crime, the Associated Press reported.
“I’m human. I’m not perfect,” Mill told Brinkley, according to the Inquirer. “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.” Mill sought treatment this year for a Percocet addiction.
Judge Brinkley responded by saying that the prosecutor was too new to the case and that Mill just “does what he wants.”
“I gave you break after break, and you basically just thumbed your nose at this court,” Brinkley told Mill, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
But Mill’s attorney Joe Tacopina told Billboard he believes the case was personal for Judge Brinkley, and her sentence stems from an “infatuation” with the rapper. “She’s enamored with him,” Tacopina said. “She showed up at his community service for the homeless people.”
Tacopina went on to describe how the judge once requested the Wins and Losses rapper re-record a Boyz II Men song and give her a shout-out on the track. Tacopina also alleged that Judge Brinkley once tried to pressure Mill into leaving his record label to sign with a personal friend of hers. ( Editor Loren Fouroux/ Video Courtesy of Thought Crimez.)
