Connect with us

Crime & Justice

Is Meek Mill’s sentence too harsh?

On Monday, November 6, Meek Mill’s was sentenced to 2-4 years in state prison for violating his probation stemming from a 2008 gun and drug case

Unheard Voices Magazine

Published

on

Meek Mill
Meek Mill at Made in America 2015 (Photo by Chris Sikich from Philadelphia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meek_Mill_@_Made_in_America_2015_VII_(23724077599)_(cropped).jpg)

On Monday, November 6, Meek Mill was sentenced to 2-4 years in state prison for violating his probation stemming from a 2008 gun and drug case.

Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley, cited a failed drug test and a failure to comply with a court order restricting his travel as her basis for sentencing.

“I’ve been trying to help you since 2009,” Brinkley said, citing a failed drug test, failure to comply with a court order restricting his travel and two other unrelated arrests. “You basically thumbed your nose at me.”

Family, friends, and the hip-hop community has rallied behind the rapper, calling the sentence simply too harsh and egregious. While T.I. and Kevin Hart left encouraging messages for Meek suggesting that he remains positive, rap luminary JAY-Z was critical of Brinkley’s decision, dubbing it “unjust and heavy handed” in a Facebook post.

Meek Mill’s attorney vows to appeal his client’s ruling and tackle Judge Brinkley’s decision, stating she has a personal vendetta against the Philly rapper.

Don't miss out!
Subscribe To Newsletter

Receive the latest in news, music, and issues that matter. 

Invalid email address
Give it a try. You can unsubscribe at any time. We will never spam your inbox.

“She’s enamored with him,” Tacopina told Billboard. “She showed up at his community service for the homeless people. She showed up and sat at the table. She’s a judge. You could pull any judge in America and ask them how many times they’ve showed up at a community service for a probation and the answer is zero.”

The handing down of the sentence came after a prosecutor recommended that Mill not be imprisoned for the violations, saying that he has been clean since January and that he has grown as a person since his original crime. Brinkley said the prosecutor was too new to the case to understand how Mill just “does what he wants.”

See also  Oklahoma governor commutes Julius Jones' death sentence

Meek Mill owned up to the violations in his only statement during the hearing and said that jailing him would likely end his musical career. He said that he has battled addiction to the prescription painkiller Percocet and that he has only tried to escape a life of crime.

“I may have made a mistake but I never had the intention of disrespecting you,” he said.

Mill has served brief stints in jail and home confinement following his conviction on gun and drug possession charges that could have resulted in a 5 to 10 year prison sentence.

He also was recently arrested two times — once in St. Louis for a fight in an airport where serious charges against him were later dropped and the other for reckless driving in New York City.

Is Meek Mill’s sentence too harsh? After admitting to battling addiction to prescription drugs, is imprisonment the proper recourse for his actions?

Share your thoughts!


----------------------------------------------------------
Connect with Unheard Voices on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube

Download the app on Google Play or ITunes.
----------------------------------------------------------
Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a local Black newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to now broaden into a recognized Black online media outlet. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Facebook

Tags

Archives

unheard voices shop
unheard voices on google play unheard voices on itunes

Trending