As details about Meek Mill’s case continue to emerge, the judge at the center of it all is facing enormous scrutiny.
Judge Genece E. Brinkley sentenced the rapper to two to four years in prison for violating probation, but fans, supporters, and a number of celebrities have come forward to condemn the sentence.
JAY-Z recently wrote for The New York Times, “What’s happening to Meek Mill is just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day.”
Brinkley is currently under investigation by the FBI after shocking details emerged about her alleged behavior during the trial. Here’s everything we know about the judge at the center of Meek Mill’s case.
1. Brinkley has been a judge since 1993. She graduated from Spelman College in 1978 and received her law degree from Temple University. Ballotpedia states that Brinkley ran for retention in 2013 and her term will expire in 2023.
2. She rejected the prosecutor and probation officer’s request for no jail time. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that many were shocked when Mill was sentenced after both the prosecutor and the rapper’s probation officer recommended no jail time. The judge’s sentencing also came after the rapper’s plea for leniency, where he explained, “I’m human. I’m not perfect. I’m asking for mercy. You gave me the ladder to do what I have to do to prevail in my struggle. I made it this far, I can’t really go back and start over.”
3. Brinkley has a history of sentencing people to prison for probation violations. Philly.com reports that a review shows “the same pattern: probation extensions that drag on for a decade or more, followed by a final violation that carries a lecture in which Brinkley berates the probationers for blowing multiple chances at redemption and ‘thumbing your nose at the court.'” And, her decisions have been upheld by a higher court.
4. The judge is currently under FBI investigation over an alleged extortionate demand. According to TMZ, Brinkley reportedly requested that Mill remix a Boyz II Men song and include her name as a shout out. She’s also being investigated over her relationship with local music manager Charlie Mack after she allegedly told Mill to leave Roc Nation and sign with Mack.
5. Brinkley has been asked to step down from the case. On Tuesday, Mill’s legal team filed a motion to have the judge step down from the case, alleging that the judge had “assumed a non-judicial, essentially prosecutorial role in the revocation process” and ignored the prosecutions recommendation of no jail time.
Mill’s team is seeking to appeal his sentence, and if Brinkley does not respond to the motion in 30 days, his lawyers may take the case to Superior Court.