trials

Meek Mill Granted Retrial and New Judge, Hopes to Have ‘Injustice Rectified’

Rapper Meek Mill. Photo: Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Future

Rapper Meek Mill will officially have a new trial according to NBC Philadelphia. The retrial will also be handled by a different court from his original trial. “We’re looking forward to the oral argument before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and to, hopefully, having Meek’s conviction vacated,” Mill’s attorney Jordan Siev said in a statement. Siev also says they “hope to have this injustice rectified once and for all.”

Last month, Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. According to a local NBC affiliate, the appeal called for a new trial and for Judge Genece Brinkley, who presided over the original trial, to recuse herself. In the file for appeal, Krasner noted moments where Brinkley overstepped her boundaries as a judge, and the “public perception of unfairness and bias” that complicated the case.

Siev previously said they “are very pleased” and noted that “it marks the first time the DA has publicly outlined in writing that it supports Judge Brinkley’s recusal.’” Brinkley covered the rapper’s case since 2008 after he allegedly brandished a weapon at a cop during a drug raid. Her treatment of the case has come under intense public scrutiny and she has previously refused to recuse herself.

Mill marked his return to music in January with his latest album Championships. That same month, Jay-Z and Mill, along with three sports team owners, launched the Reform Alliance to attempt to overhaul the probation and parole system. The rapper went on the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last September with 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin, where he expressed his desire to get 1 million people out of jail.

This post has been updated throughout.

Meek Mill Officially Granted a Retrial and a New Judge