Meek Mill's motion to remove the controversial judge overseeing his case was denied Tuesday after Pennsylvania's Supreme Court voted to allow Philadelphia Judge Genece Brinkley to continue presiding over the rapper's criminal case.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the state's highest court, was divided on Meek Mill's motion – three supported it, three denied it – resulting in a split decision that resulted in Brinkley remaining. The seventh judge on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not participate in the vote, TMZ reports.
While the rapper was defeated in his latest effort to remove Brinkley, one Supreme Court judge who denied the motion told Meek Mill's legal team that they could raise the issue of Brinkley's removal again at an upcoming June 18th hearing before Brinkley, the Associated Press writes, at which point Meek Mill will again ask for a new trial.
"We remain hopeful that the overwhelming amount of evidence in this case – and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s backing – will prompt Judge Brinkley to grant Meek a new trial, failing which we will promptly pursue all appellate remedies available to right this terrible injustice," the rapper's lawyer Joe Tacopina said Tuesday.
As Meek Mill told Rolling Stone in April, Brinkley is notorious for remanding people to prison on technical violations. She also has a connection to a corrupt police officer named Reggie Graham, who in 2007 arrested Meek Mill on gun and drug-related charges. Following the revelation of Graham's corruption, Brinkley still refused to void the rapper's guilty verdict, even as over 100 people arrested by Graham were, as of April, queued for quick dismissal.
Tacopino alleged in November that Brinkley asked that Meek Mill remake Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee" as a tribute to herself, a strange request that was rejected by the rapper. Brinkley also recommended that Meek Mill leave Jay-Z's Roc Nation to instead align with a Philadelphia manager.
"When she requests he leaves his current management Roc Nation—which is one of the most important management companies in the world—and goes back to a local Philadelphia guy who has a spotted past because she had a personal relationship with him as manager, again, she’s doing something that a judge would never be doing, having a personal interest," Tacopino said at the time.