Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is “unopposed” to Meek Mill getting released on bail while the rapper appeals a two to four year sentence for a probation violation. The district attorney’s office based its decision on the fact that the appeal was unlikely to be settled within six months and the DA has a policy not to request more than six to 12 months for probation and parole violations. From Associated Press:
Mill has spent more than two years in custody or on house arrest, and if the conviction is reversed there is a risk of an unjust or disproportionate sentence having been served and “that risk increases as long as (Mill) remains in custody,” the office said.
The prosecutor’s office filed a motion on Wednesday citing alleged false testimony provided by arresting officer Reginald Graham at Mill’s 2007 trial, who is on a list of officers who is “considered tainted and unworthy of testimony by the DA’s office,” according to Philadelphia Magazine. Krasner was elected in November 2017 on a progressive platform advocating the decriminalization of marijuana, the end of harsh sentencing and the pursuit of the death penalty, and an overall reform of the city’s criminal justice system leading to an end of mass incarceration.
The statement from Krasner’s office was issued one day after Mill’s mother, Kathy Williams, made a public plea at a University of Pennsylvania criminal justice panel for the DA to help her son. She was joined by Mill’s defense attorney Joe Tacopina.
“I’m begging the DA Krasner,” Williams said at a press conference before the panel. “Can you please help me out?”
Kathy Williams, mother of Meek Mill, addresses the media at @Penn criminal justice panel @phillydotcom https://t.co/lDTLKzLFew
— Dan Spinelli (@dspin3) March 13, 2018
The decision to free Mill ultimately rests with Judge Genece Brinkley, who denied Mill’s bail request in November claiming that he is “a flight risk” and “a danger to the community.” As Spin reported in December, Brinkley has been criticized for taking what many have taken an inappropriately personal interest in Mill’s case.
