Source: Power 105 / Power 105
Philly.com- The judge who sent Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill to prison last fall for violating the terms of his probation stemming from his 2008 conviction on drug and gun charges said Monday that she needs more time to decide whether he should get a new trial. She gave no date by which she would make a ruling.
That decision capped a two-hour hearing during which Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley repeatedly clashed with the rapper’s lawyers, who accused her of acting like a prosecutor and of laughing at their expert witness.
Brinkley has refused defense requests to recuse herself from the case and to grant the rapper a new trial based on the contention that Reginald Graham, the officer who arrested him in 2007, lied during the trial and later was flagged by the District Attorney’s Office as corrupt.
Brinkley said that an officer’s being on the “do-not-call” list may be sufficient for a lawyer to ask for a new trial, but not for her to grant one. She refused to hand the case to another judge Monday, reminding defense lawyers that the state Supreme Court shot down that request earlier this month.
Earlier, Mill had told rally participants that he left a lot of innocent men behind jail walls when he was granted bail in April. “I want you all to know I will stand up for your family members for the rest of my music career,” the rapper promised.
