Meek Mill Granted Bail Hearing, Will Appear In Front Of Judge Genece Brinkley
UPDATE 11/17/2017 4:35 P.M. EST:
In a document obtained by VIBE, Meek Mill’s bail hearing has been canceled due to an administrative error. This news follows reports that the 30-year-old was initially granted a date to appeal his prison sentence in court later this month. Details are still forthcoming.
Philly court spokesman: Meek Mill bail hearing listing was a “clerical error.” There is no hearing scheduled. More to come.
— Joseph A. Slobodzian (@JoeSlobo) November 17, 2017
Read the original report below.
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Meek Mill’s bail hearing has been set for Nov. 27 at 9 a.m. at the Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia, VIBE reports. The proceeding will take place in front of Judge Genece Brinkley, the Common Pleas Court officer responsible for sentencing the “Lord Knows” rapper to prison for two to four years.
This news arrives a few days after Mill’s legal counsel filed an appeal. The 30-year-old rapper landed in a Delaware County prison on Nov. 8 after Brinkley ruled he failed a drug test and dismissed the protocol for legitimate travel permission. According to the New York Times, Brinkley also cited two incidents that involved Mill, one being a scuffle at a St. Louis airport, and the other being a charge for reckless endangerment in New York City. Both cases were dismissed by the district attorney. When Mill appeared in front of Brinkley earlier this month, both the D.A. and his parole officer called for no jail time. Billboard notes Mill is no longer in solitary confinement.
Since news of Mill’s case surfaced, supporters have amplified their voices in the form of petitions or rallies. JAY-Z, one of Mill’s public backers, recently published a New York Times op-ed condemning the criminal justice system and the quicksand-like perils of parole. According to Mill’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, his parole was supposed to end in 2013.
“On the surface, this may look like the story of yet another criminal rapper who didn’t smarten up and is back where he started,” JAY-Z wrote. “But consider this: Meek was around 19 when he was convicted on charges relating to drug and gun possession, and he served an eight-month sentence. Now he’s 30, so he has been on probation for basically his entire adult life. For about a decade, he’s been stalked by a system that considers the slightest infraction a justification for locking him back inside.”
The Philadelphia District Attorney is also supporting the bail motion. Below is an excerpt from the ruling obtained by VIBE:
“b. At the recent revocation hearing, the Commonwealth (represented by ADA Hoffman, a highly experienced supervisor in the District Attorney’s Office) did not recommend revocation, but rather recommended continuing the probation. Ex. __, Tr. 11/6/17, part 2, at 26–28. The Assistant District Attorney properly noted that Mr. Williams had “grown leaps and bounds” during the decade since his conviction, id. 27:3, that despite a past narcotic medication addiction, he has been “clean since January of 2017 … eleven months at this point. And he has been being tested since then,” id. 27:12–15, and that his “biggest problem” on probation is the management of his professional schedule as a successful entertainer that has created “an inability to make sure that everyone is aware of his travel plans and where he intends to go.” Id. 27:16–20. On this basis, the Commonwealth concluded that Mr. Williams’s conduct under supervision, “from what I’ve heard today and the records that I’ve been able to review prior to today,” id. 26:21–23, did not involve “violations that require the defendant to be incarcerated at this point.” Id. 28:11–12.
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