Meek Mill’s lawyers are reportedly campaigning to have Judge Genece Brinkley removed from his case.
The 30-year-old rap star was recently handed up to four years in jail for a probation violation and, following a report that the FBI are investigation the neutrality of the judge, Meek’s lawyers have now filed a motion asking for Judge Brinkley to disqualify herself from the case.
Representatives of Meek are calling for another judge to oversee the alleged violation, which relates to a drug and weapons case in 2009.
Meek’s team claims Judge Brinkley "assumed a non-judicial, essentially prosecutorial role in the revocation process".
It’s been claimed too, that the long-time Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge imposed a harsh sentence, even though the rapper’s probation officer and prosecutor had not asked for him to be jailed.
The motion adds that Judge Brinkley "repeatedly offered inappropriate personal and professional advice to the defendant, who had become a successful professional entertainer during the pendency of this case. On some occasions, Judge Brinkley has done so off the record, or on the record while attempting inappropriately to keep that record secret from the defendant and his counsel."
More specifically, Meek’s team claims that the judge repeatedly asked Meek to cut his ties with the Roc Nation record label, and instead sign with Charlie Mack, whom Meek was connected to earlier in his music career.
Of the new filing, Meek’s attorney Joe Tacopina told the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column: "It’s the most thorough and quite frankly alarming recusal notice against a judge I’ve ever seen in my life. Throughout my career as both a prosecutor and a defence attorney I have never been as shocked by a judge’s conduct."
Meanwhile, Brian J. McMonagle – another of Meek’s attorneys – said: "It was a miscarriage of justice that lacked even the semblance of fairness. We have asked this Judge to step aside so that a fair minded jurist can right this terrible wrong."
Meek Mill’s lawyers want judge removed from case
