A three-judge Pennsylvania appeals court on Wednesday threw out Meek Mill’s decade-old conviction in a drug and firearm case and granted the rapper a new trial after new allegations of police corruption emerged, The Associated Press reported.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court also overturned Judge Genece Brinkley’s finding that Meek Mill violated his parole in 2017, which resulted in the rapper going to prison for five months. The court also removed the judge from the case.
{mosads}“We conclude the after-discovered evidence is of such a strong nature and character that a different verdict will likely result at a retrial,” the opinion said, the AP reported.
Last month, prosecutors granted the rapper, whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, a new hearing relating to the 2017 sentencing, alleging that Brinkley “assumed the role of investigator,” checking in on him at a homeless shelter where he was performing court-ordered community service. On the date of the rescheduled hearing, Williams’s lawyers requested an entirely new trial for the 2008 charges.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office also said they will not be calling the police officer who was the sole witness in Williams’s 2017 trial about his alleged parole violation. He has alleged that the rapper pointed a gun at him during an arrest outside of his Philadelphia home. Williams has denied the allegation.