Meek Mill's push for a new trial was met with no decision in a ruling at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Monday. Meek and his legal team will continue a prolonged fight to have Judge Genece Brinkley removed from his case, with June 30 as the deadline to have a new trial scheduled.
“I feel like what went on in the courtroom today is disgraceful,” Meek said on his way out. “There was laughing going on and to me, it’s not really a game.”
Mill's lawyer Joseph Tacopina said, “I feel like I just left an asylum. That was a kangaroo court, if ever I’ve seen one before. You had a judge whose whole purpose today was to try and protect one of the most corrupt cops in Philadelphia history, try and defend him at the expense of the system, at the expense of doing justice.”
"Thank you," Meek told a large crowd of supporters on the way out, "for coming out here and supporting me and standing tall with me."
Meek went on: "I came into this situation today not really knowing, thinking anything good was gonna happen in that courtroom. It was what I thought it was. I just got up to thank y'all for coming out to support me and support the other men and brothers that's caught up in the system."
The supporters greeted Meek enthusiastically earlier Monday:
"I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart," he told the assembled on the way into the hearing. 'The last six months has been a real time for me and, you know, I always got support for me for my music but my life is on the line this time and y'all supported me. I want to say thank you."
In a press release, rally organizers said Brinkley was "wasting taxpayer dollars" and demanded the case be dismissed. "Unfortunately, Meek's story is not unique and thousands of Pennsylvanians have faced the same cycle of injustice from arrest to sentencing," Justice League NYC said.
Back in February, Tacopina said he and his client would not be "intimidated" by Brinkley's legal team. "We won't be intimidated, especially by a lawyer [A. Charles Peruto Jr.], who visited Meek Mill days after he was sentenced and also called his defense team to try to get hired and offer him his legal services on this matter," Tacopina said. "Additionally, he has changed his tune regarding his comments about paying $100,000 if the FBI concludes the judge did something wrong—his earlier comments to Law.com were that he would pay five years of his salary if the FBI ever investigated the judge. I guess he is withdrawing that bet now."
Meek had been on probation for gun and drugs charges for nearly 10 years, a ridiculous amount of time that was widely called into question when Meek was sentenced to two to four years in state prison in 2017. JAY-Z, who has consistently offered public support to Meek, quickly responded with a statement calling the sentence unjust. "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," Jay said at the time. (And on this past weekend's surprise Beyoncé joint album Everything Is Love, on "Friends," he rapped, "When I say free the dogs, I free 'em/That's how Meek got his freedom.")
