The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge presiding over the case of rapper Meek Mill was ordered by the Pennsylvania Superior Court on Tuesday to make a decision on the rapper’s application for bail “without further delay.”
Meek, 30, whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, is currently a few weeks into serving a two- to four-year prison sentence for a probation violation related to a gun possession case he caught when he was 18 years old. His attorneys filed a motion for bail on Nov. 16, but Judge Genece Brinkley has yet to issue a ruling on that motion.
On Monday, Meek’s attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition, claiming that Brinkley was ignoring Meek’s post-sentencing motions and making it impossible for him to file an appeal, according to the New York Daily News.
While the Pennsylvania Superior Court denied the rapper’s request to be freed from prison and allowed to post bail, it ruled that Brinkley should immediately rule on Meek’s previous request, saying, “The Court of Common Pleas is directed to enter a disposition of petitioner’s Nov. 16, 2017, motion for bail without further delay.”
Brinkley sentenced Meek Mill to prison earlier this month after a drug test came back positive for the prescription drug Percocet and the rapper was arrested twice this year—once for an altercation in a St. Louis airport and again for popping wheelies on a motorcycle in New York.
The criminal charges in both of those arrests were later dropped, but the judge determined that the mere fact he was arrested violated the terms of his probation. She sentenced him to prison even though both a prosecutor and Meek’s probation officer recommended that he not be jailed.
In a statement to NBC News, Meek’s attorney Joe Tacopina said: “We are pleased that the Superior Court took immediate action to direct the Court of Common Pleas to decide on the application for bail ‘without further delay.’ We remain hopeful that Mr. Williams will be promptly released on bail.”
On Monday the Rev. Al Sharpton visited Meek at the prison in Chester, Pa. He called for Brinkley to “step aside” from the case.
“If you can do this to a successful artist like Meek Mill, you can do this to many around the country,” Sharpton said. “He is representative of far more than his stardom; he is a symbol of the abuse of the system that will violate over nothing and end up ruining the potential and the ability to move forward in life.”
Sharpton also posted a video to his Instagram account discussing Meek.
If we are being completely honest, Meek is getting a very raw deal. He is being denied bail in a case that is 10 years old while politicians accused of what is essentially treason are out free on bail. It’s a travesty and a miscarriage of justice.
Enough is enough.
#FreeMeekMill