Meek Mill’s attorney wants Judge Genece Brinkley off his client’s case, and he’s taking it all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in an effort to make that happen. In newly released legal documents, they claim that a lawsuit filed by Judge Brinkley back in 2014 makes it clear that she is unfit to preside over Meek’s case. They are hoping that the information laid out in that lawsuit will prove that the Philadelphia judge’s conduct is unprofessional and biased and that, coupled with events in her past, justify replacing her on Mill’s case.
The rapper’s attorneys have been fighting to get her pulled from the case since November when she sentenced him to two to four years for violating probation received for 2008 drug and weapons charges. After serving just five months of his sentence, the Supreme Court ordered Brinkley to release him on unsecured bail according to USA Today . Meek and his attorneys have been trying to get the old charges thrown out because of questionable behavior by the arresting officer.
In the 2014 lawsuit cited by the defense team, Brinkley said she had been “traumatized” when she found a housekeeper’s name tag in her hotel bed. She was staying at the hotel while attending a judicial conference according to TMZ . In the lawsuit, she states that she worked through the trauma but that it returned when she attended a conference the following year.
Meek Mill Says Judge Brinkley Can’t Preside Because of Maid Trauma https://t.co/WFm3uzCXSI
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 4, 2018
Mill’s attorneys have also cited a 2016 lawsuit filed by Judge Brinkley in which she reportedly claimed to have suffered “severe head trauma” in a car accident that left her with “neurological” injuries. In addition, they charge that she has treated their client unfairly by making comments about Meek outside the courtroom that give the appearance of a prosecutor, not of an impartial judge. They also believe the judge broke ethics rules when she hired a lawyer to defend her against their charges of bias and question her decision to hold a hearing about Mill’s petition for a new trial although the prosecution had already agreed to a new trial.
Her attorney states that Brinkley believes she has shown no bias in the case but rather has treated the rapper the way she treats all defendants who come before her. He went a step further and said, “Everything they have stated for why she should recuse herself is either made up or irrelevant, and it’s not a reason to recuse herself from deciding this case.”
Meek Mill’s legal team has requested a speedy decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as he is scheduled to appear in Judge Brinkley’s courtroom on June 18.