Meek mill

[Jiri Welsch]

He is a rapper who has been arrested numerous times. His crimes include illegal possession of a firearm, assault on an officer, and drug trafficking. Since then, he’s had several probation / parole violations.

Despite that (or because of it) he’s become a local hero in Philly.

A couple more details: He is a rapper who was arrested at 18 years old for illegal possession of a firearm and assaulting a police office. He was given probation for this incident. Conclude what you will about the severity of the incident.

At 20, he was arrested for drug dealing and possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 11-23 months in prison and was released on the early side under a 5-year parole agreement.

He has since had issues with violating his probation, mainly for not reporting travel plans. He also was arrested in St. Louis after an altercation with pedestrians, which led to his most recent summons, arrest, and imprisonment. However, details emerged shortly thereafter about the prosecuting judge's questionable behavior. He was released a couple weeks ago.

There's no question he has broken the law in the past. But I think he is also the face of what many Philadelphians (and Americans) see as a greater need to police the conduct of law enforcement.

I don't understand this one. In a vacuum, I usually take the side of the defendant. Multiple news outlets said that he had multiple instances of disobeying court orders. This sounds like someone that doesn't respect the gravitas of the US legal system. I would be shocked if he violated probation again.

Of course I don't know every detail, but from 10,000 ft view, this guys seems to be lacking humility. Yes, the judge had inappropriate comments and its weird that she checked up on him at community service. That being said, he was arrested on a gun charge (big deal) and violated probation 5 times. He was later arrested twice more, including an altercation at an airport.

I don't mean to sound too judgy, but I've been to the airport a bunch of times, and I've never come close to getting into an altercation. At risk of sounding out of touch, it seems like this dude wasn't as afraid of getting arrested as I would be.

I agree. I've stated a few times here, but I can be a bit more explicit: The guy seems to make idiotic decisions. I would never defend his behavior.

Though I think some of his advocates are claiming outright innocence, I think most are simply pointing to the corruption involved.

[Roy H.]

What larger issue, though? That career criminals end up in jail?

On March 14, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office filed a response to Meek’s petitions, stating “there is a strong showing of likelihood of the Petitioner’s conviction being reversed (in whole or in part).” The D.A. cited testimony from an officer whose prior testimony against corrupt cops resulted in hundreds of conviction reversals.

Corrupt cops. The original arrest apparently should not have gone down the way it did. I'm definitely not going to die on the "Meek Mill is Innocent of All Crimes!" hill. But he's a famous person who was arrested by a corrupt cop. I'm sure the corruption of law enforcement has impacted thousands of people in Philadelphia.

Right. There’s no evidence the corrupt cop did anything improper in this case, though, nor was the cop involved in his various other crimes.

In the above quote I provided, the DA acknowledges that "there is a strong showing of likelihood of the Petitioner's conviction being reversed (in whole or in part)." It seems strange that the District Attorney's Office would make such a claim based on "no evidence" whatsoever.

Either way, it doesn't seem worth parsing out any more. The reason people care about this situation is twofold:

(1) He's famous
(2) There is a history of corruption in law enforcement in Philadelphia (and elsewhere) that some feel warrants attention and fixing.

It seems like you're having trouble separating the corruption of law enforcement with the guy's questionable behavior generally.

No, they’re two separate issues.

Philly has a bunch of corrupt cops. They are being disciplined, and a lot of guilty defendants are getting a literal get out of jail free card. Any case associated with a dirty cop is immediately suspect.

In Meek Mill’s case, he’s just a scum bag. He’s treated like a hero, when he’s really just a low-grade thug.

[Beat LA]

He is a rapper who has been arrested numerous times. His crimes include illegal possession of a firearm, assault on an officer, and drug trafficking. Since then, he’s had several probation / parole violations.

Despite that (or because of it) he’s become a local hero in Philly.

you forgot to mention he makes terrible music

Meek Mill makes music? Honestly no idea as to who this dude is, but wasn't he with Nicki Minaj and dat plastic bootay?

[Celtics4ever]

His crimes include illegal possession of a firearm, assault on an officer, and drug trafficking.

Here is the full rap sheet

Mill was arrested for illegally possessing a firearm and assaulting a policeman when he was 18 years old. He was put on probation. Since then, he has been arrested four times for parole violation.[4][6]

In 2008, Mill was convicted of drug dealing and gun possession and was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in prison by Judge Genece Brinkley[47]. After Mill's 2008 conviction, Brinkley would continue to handle Mill's further legal cases. Mill was released during the early portion of 2009 under a five-year parole agreement.[4][48][49][50] In December 2012, Mill was found to have violated his probation and the judge revoked Mill's travel permit.[51]

In May 2013, Mill was again found to have violated his probation and was ordered to take etiquette classes by Brinkley. The violation was a failure to report travel plans as required and social media postings that resulted in death threats to the judge, assistant district attorney (ADA), and probation officer assigned his case.[49] In requiring the classes and stressing the requirement to report travel, Brinkley noted, "You need to try to get this right next time."[50] In June 2013, the court noted that Mill continually failed to report his travel plans. Brinkley established an August deadline for the classes, noting that Mill has "a lot of issues" and that the classes would provide him with a "big-picture perspective" of his personal and professional actions. Brinkley stated the classes were "more important than any concerts he might have."[52] Of the requirement to provide travel plans to his probation officer, Mill complained, "You just gonna miss money all day." The ADA explained that it was a consequence of being on probation.[53] On July 11, 2014, Mill had his probation revoked and he was sentenced to three to six months in jail.[54] He was released from prison on December 2, 2014.[55]

He was found guilty for a parole violation again on December 17, 2015. The judge hearing his case refused to give him another chance and ordered him not to work or perform before his sentencing on February 5, 2016.[56] He was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest on February 5. The sentence became effective from March 1 during which he was not allowed to work and was required to do daily community service with groups serving adults. Additionally, he was also sentenced to six more years of probation.[57] On June 2, 2016, Meek Mill was sentenced to eight additional days of house arrest.[58] His house arrest came to an end in mid-June 2016.[59]

On March 11, 2017, Mill was arrested at a local airport in St. Louis, Missouri for assaulting two pedestrians. Shortly after his arrest and court appearance, he was given a court summons.[60][61] On November 6, 2017, he was sentenced to two to four years in state prison for violating his parole.[62][63]

Reports alleged that there was an investigation by the FBI into the conduct of the judge presiding over his case, Judge Brinkley.[64] This was later publicly acknowledged by Mill's defense team.[65] Meek's attorney, Joe Tacopina, made several allegations of inappropriate statements and actions from Brinkley, including that "she requested he re-record a Boyz II Men song and shout her out, and how she wanted him to leave Roc Nation to sign with a friend of hers" and that "she showed up at his community service" when a typical judge would not do that, among several other irregularities.[66]

In February of 2018, the officer of Mill's original 2007 case was brought under scrutiny for the potential mishandling of his arrest. This comes upon a whistle-blower's testimony responsible for the revelation of hundreds of other corrupt officers. An appeal to reverse Mill's conviction was submitted.[67]

Sounds like a bad apple.  I hate to see anyone shafted by the justice system.   But this guy is no angel and does not seem willing to do probation properly.

Isn't he is the unofficial Philly team mascot nowadays.   His mojo can't beat the anger of the tanking gods that the leprechaun is throwing their way.

[Beat LA]

Here is the full rap sheet

Intentional or not, TP for the pun .

[apc]

So it’s one thing if he some sort of hero for some people.
But why are the Sixers promoting this ?
(He got to ring their bell to start a game and more)

[ETNCeltics]

Amazing the 6ers mascot is a habitual criminal and they're proud of it. It speaks poorly of the people defending this thug, most notably Robert Kraft.

[CelticsElite]

Maybe meek mill is the father of Robert Krafts girlfriends new baby
http://m.tmz.com/#2018/03/01/robert-kraft-not-the-father-ricki-noel-lander/

[perks-a-beast]

His music might be his worst crime [and I like rap]