{"id":2448037,"date":"2019-08-27T08:36:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=877067"},"modified":"2019-08-27T08:36:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:36:43","slug":"meek-mills-long-legal-battle-is-finally-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/meek-mills-long-legal-battle-is-finally-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Meek Mill\u2019s Long Legal Battle Is Finally Over"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/meek-mill-legal-battle-over.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/meek-mill\/\" id=\"auto-tag_meek-mill\" data-tag=\"meek-mill\">Meek Mill<\/a> pleaded guilty to a single gun charge from 2007, as prosecutors decided to drop all other charges against him. The decision ends a tumultuous, 12-year legal battle, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcphiladelphia.com\/news\/local\/Could-Today-Be-the-End-of-Meek-Mills-12-Year-Legal-Saga-558419641.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">NBC 10<\/a> in Philadelphia reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Mill was back in court Tuesday after the Pennsylvania Superior Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/meek-mill-2008-conviction-overturned-new-trial-863071\/\">threw out his 2008 conviction<\/a> on drug and gun charges and granted the rapper a new trial based on new evidence of alleged police corruption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">During the hearing, prosecutors announced their decision to drop all other charges against Mill, citing his recent work as an advocate for criminal justice reform. In regards to the sole gun charge, they added, \u201cHe was adult enough to admit he had a gun, so we feel this is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Following the hearing, Meek Mill reportedly left the Philadelphia courthouse as the theme song from <em>Rocky<\/em> played. The rapper addressed a small crowd of fans, proclaiming he was no longer on probation and adding, \u201cI wanted to thank everybody whoever stood for me. I\u2019m very thankful from the bottom of my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"9.2817679558011\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Breaking?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">#Breaking<\/a>: &#8220;Meek freed, I&#8217;m not on probation&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MeekMill?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">@MeekMill<\/a> thanks supporters after final court hearing where he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a license from his initial arrest in 2007. Tuesday&#8217;s plea ends the rapper&#8217;s 12 year legal battle. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CMUG5zZ3nJ\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/CMUG5zZ3nJ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YCyexQkUrV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/YCyexQkUrV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBCPhiladelphia\/status\/1166351441415548929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">August 27, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">Meek Mill also shared a statement following the hearing: \u201cI\u2019m extremely grateful that my long legal battle is finally behind me and I appreciate that it has sparked a much-needed discussion about probation reform and the inequalities that exist within our two Americas. I have always told the truth \u2014 that as a teenager, who saw many around me die from senseless gun violence, I carried a gun for protection. I take responsibility for that and \u2014 in conjunction with my work on the REFORM Alliance \u2014 I\u2019ll continue to use my platform to make communities safer and reform our criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Meek Mill\u2019s legal saga began when he was arrested in 2007 at age 19 on drug and gun charges, and his subsequent conviction earned him an eight month prison sentence, plus five years of probation. Various low-level violations prolonged Meek\u2019s probationary sentence, and in 2017 he was hit with another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/meek-mill-receives-up-to-four-years-in-prison-for-violating-probation-123559\/\">two to four years<\/a> in prison for a pair of non-violent offenses. The rapper became a focal point for criminal justice as his case dragged on and, following his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/meek-mill-released-from-prison-on-bail-126725\/\">release from prison<\/a>, the rapper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/jay-z-meek-mill-reform-alliance-criminal-justice-783228\/\">took up the mantle<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Major factors in Meek\u2019s 2008 conviction ultimately being thrown out were the suspect circumstances surrounding his arrest, conviction, and years on probation. The rapper\u2019s arresting officer subsequently resigned after the Philadelphia Police Department Board of Inquiry found him guilty of theft and lying, while Judge Genece Brinkley was accused of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/meek-mill-reflects-on-the-toll-of-prison-and-why-his-upbringing-left-him-traumatized-630519\/\">questionable<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/judge-denies-meek-mills-appeal-for-new-trial-667019\/\">behavior<\/a> during the years she oversaw Meek\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/meek-mill-free-probation-877067\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meek Mill pleaded guilty to a single gun charge from 2007, as prosecutors decided to drop all other charges against him. The decision ends a tumultuous, 12-year legal battle, NBC 10 in Philadelphia reports. Mill was back in court Tuesday after the Pennsylvania Superior Court threw out his 2008 conviction on drug and gun charges [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 20:59:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}