Incarcerated rapper Meek Mill has had his latest bid for bail shot down after he was deemed a “danger to the community”.
Meek Mill, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, recently began serving his sentence for two-to-four years behind bars after violating his probation relating to a 2008 drug and gun bust.
Meek’s lawyers quickly challenged the ruling and have been trying to secure his release ever since, as well as have Pennsylvania’s Judge Genece Brinkley removed from the case, accusing her of defying prosecutors’ recommendation for no prison time due to her own personal vendetta against the hip-hop star.
Last week, the defence lawyers turned to officials at Pennsylvania’s Superior Court to step in amid claims Judge Brinkley has been ignoring their motions for bail, asking them to consider their emergency petition to free Meek pending their appeal.
Superior Court judges declined to grant the bail request as they declared it should be dealt with in a lower court, but they did order Brinkley to immediately hold hearings on the outstanding matters raised by Meek’s legal representatives.
She obeyed and on Friday, denied Meek’s motion for freedom, branding him a “flight risk” and a “danger to the community”.
In the court paperwork, obtained by the outlet, Judge Brinkley also called into question the validity of his clean drug tests, suggesting he may have relied upon detox product Fast Flush to clear his system of any suspicious substances.
Meek’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, has hit out at the decision, slamming the judge for continuing her “long pattern of unfair treatment” of the rapper, and vowing to fight the no-bail ruling.
“As stated on multiple occasions, he has never missed a previous court date in this case and poses absolutely no threat to the community, which makes him an ideal candidate for bail…,” Tacopina continues in a statement issued to Billboard.com. “We intend to immediately appeal this decision, so Mr. Williams can be released from prison on bail while we continue to work to overturn this wrongful and unjust sentence.”
Tacopina previously blasted Brinkley for allegedly punishing the star after he laughed off her request for a shout-out in a song, and snubbed her suggestion to dump his management team at JAY-Z’s Roc Nation firm and sign with Philadelphia music figure Charlie Mack.
Mack, who previously worked with Meek early on in his career, has denied any links to Brinkley as she also faces an FBI investigation over her reported actions.
