Thursday, March 28, 2024

Cop Who Arrested Meek Mill Has History of Racial Bias (Report)

Meek Mill
Meek Mill

*Meek Mill’s legal team has launched a new bid to free the jailed rapper after it was revealed the police officer who arrested him was secretly on a DA’s list of cops suspected of framing suspects and lying in court.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office quietly compiled a list of around two dozen police officers with an alleged history of lying, racial bias, brutality or abuse of power to block them from testifying in court again, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The list includes Officer Reginald V. Graham, who arrested Meek in 2007 on gun and drug charges and testified against him in court.

Last year, Meek received a sentence of up to four years for violating his probation linked to this original case, sparking protests against the criminal justice system.

Meek’s lawyers now believe they have a strong enough case to prove that Meek’s initial conviction was wrongful.

Via Page Six:

Meek’s initial conviction was based largely on officer Graham’s account, according to court records. Graham testified in Meek’s 2008 trial that police informants had seen Meek, then age 18, sell crack cocaine on the streets of Philadelphia – even though Meek denied he was there and was actually in court at the time supporting his cousin, which his lawyers say is a provable fact that was not considered.

The crack allegation against Meek was used to obtain a police warrant to search his cousin’s Philadelphia home where Meek had been staying. Meek says that he was outside the home when officers arrived and admits that he had an illegal gun, which he immediately threw on the ground.

But Graham had asserted in court in 2008 that Meek, whose given name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, pulled out the gun, ducked behind a car and tried to shoot them. “Myself and Officer Johnson took cover behind the green van and observed Mr. Williams pull the gun out of his waistband,” Graham testified during his trial. He “was behind the car looking like he was trying to give off a shot.” He claimed they wrestled Meek to the ground and arrested him as he tried to flee.

Meek also said in the 2008 trial that the cops had cuffed him outside the house but the officers then dragged him inside the house and beat him up. He said, according to the transcript, “I was getting beat by at least four cops. I was laying on my stomach, I was being kicked in my face, punched in my face.”

Meek also said, “I maybe got knocked out two or three times from getting kicked in my face. I had stitches. I had lumps. If you see my mug shot from the pictures I went out [unconscious] like three times.” And, “I was handcuffed. The handcuff prints on my hand from when you get thrown around with handcuffs, your hands are going to start bleeding….every last cop hit me”

Meek Mill's mugshot
Meek Mill’s mugshot

Meek also said in a 2015 interview with Billboard that the cops, “beat the s–t out of me.” Showing a mugshot of his bandaged face and swollen eye, he added, “[I had] a concussion, stitches, braids ripped out. My blood was on the ceiling, on the floor.” He required hospital treatment and stitches to his head, and was photographed handcuffed to a chair in the hospital.

Philadelphia Judge Genece Brinkley in 2008 convicted Meek of drug possession, a firearms violation and assault, tied to Graham’s testimony that Meek had pointed his gun at officers. He served five months in jail.

Ten years later, Meek — now a big hip-hop star — was called back before Brinkley after he allegedly violated his probation by getting into an altercation and then popping a wheelie in New York.

Brinkley jailed Meek for two to four years for the violation, even though prosecutors had not recommended jail time. Meek’s legal team has claimed Brinkley has an unfair agenda against the rapper and are seeking her recusal from the case. The judge has denied their claims.

And now Meek’s legal team is preparing to make a new motion to set aside his original conviction based on Graham’s account, given that the list indicates the officer was suspected by the D.A.’s office to be tainted.

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