Free Meek (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Episode #1.3 - full transcript
(suspenseful music)
- Probation is revoked.
- After the travel violations,
now Meek would have
his probation extended
by two years
as well as house arrest.
He's also effectively barred
from leaving the
city of Philadelphia,
and at this point,
shit gets interesting.
- After she sentenced
me to house arrest,
she adjourned court and
just said me and Nicki,
told me and Nicki
to come in the back.
- This is out of ear shot
of reporters and
all the lawyers.
- She asked me
about doing a remix
to Boyz II Men Bended Knee
and shout some
important people out
like my mother,
herself, Nicki.
I was astonished that
a judge even talking
about do a remix to a song.
Like you know what I'm saying?
I'm like, I'm not even
like a R&B singer.
So you know that kinda
was an eyebrow raiser.
(suspenseful music)
- He came from the back of the
chambers, and he walked out.
He said, "Man, you
wouldn't believe
"what the fuck she
said to me, man."
I was like get the fuck out.
And he said, "Yeah, man."
He said, "This shit is crazy."
If that was me, I'd be
dancing in the courtroom.
I'd be like hell yeah.
For my freedom, hell yeah.
I'd make that song.
He said, "Man, I ain't
selling out to nobody."
And that's what he told me.
"I'm not selling out to nobody."
She's his judge.
She's still got
her thumb on him.
(somber music)
- Another day on
fucking house arrest.
I can't go outside, but
they're still making me
into a motherfucking monster.
- Under terms of house arrest,
Brinkley also forbade
him from making money
on existing recordings.
- You're telling me
I can't release music.
What do releasing music
have to do with the fact
that I got locked up
with a gun in 2007?
How the hell am I
gonna pay the bills
to the house that I'm
at on house arrest
'cause before I got
on house arrest,
three months before
that I couldn't travel.
Then three months after
that I got house arrest
and I can't put out music,
so that's half of my year.
So I'm going a half a year
without making a dollar.
- The fact that
you want somebody
to have a dry spell of no money,
I just don't think it
always had the consideration
of how he could live.
You have these people,
you have family,
you have friends,
you have charities
and financially everybody
wanting, wanting,
wanting from you.
- All right, but hit me,
let me know what's up.
- I think that just brought
a lot of stress onto him.
- Come from nothing, we wasn't
supposed to make it this far.
We made it this far, we
can make it anywhere.
I look at my young nigga Pac.
I know that I can't
stop, I won't stop.
I don't got a choice.
(ominous music)
- It's a tragedy what Meek
Mill is going through.
Suppose everything the
cops said he did, he did,
but to have that define your
relationship with society
where you're selling
records, you're doing good,
you're raising your kids,
but you literally
can't go out of town
without getting another
adult's permission
and you're in your thirties?
That makes no sense.
It's dehumanizing,
it's degrading,
and then people are supposed
to deal with that perfectly.
- All this pressure in general
and then all this
disappointment,
and then being in this
hopeless kind of situation.
♪ This is my blues ♪
♪ Do me one favor ♪
♪ Take a few steps back ♪
♪ Coming back down
on my own again ♪
♪ And look at yourself ♪
♪ Matter of fact, take
yourself outside your body ♪
♪ And then look at yourself ♪
♪ And see how you
playing yourself nigga ♪
♪ This is the
blues I'm playing ♪
- I always felt like
I was a big rapper
and the way I carry myself,
we live kind of
like a flashy life
but I couldn't sleep for years.
♪ When the night is
cold and lonely ♪
- To have some
worries on my mind
waking up in the
middle of the night.
♪ Was it the money
that made me a savage ♪
♪ Poppin' them Percs
and I made it a habit ♪
♪ Totin' them pictures
and serving them addicts ♪
♪ That was exciting to me ♪
♪ I'm so excited to be ♪
- Over the years,
while on probation,
Meek tests dirty occasionally
for prescription drugs.
♪ This is the midnight blues ♪
- I went to the dentist
for my wisdom tooth
getting pulled out,
and I took Percocet.
Every day I probably
would take two, two, two.
Now when I didn't take two
I start feeling like bad,
and my body started aching.
I took two again.
Next thing you know, I
was addicted to Percocets.
And then it was just like
a way to take me away
from my problems really.
♪ Bounce bounce bounce ♪
♪ I'm looking for the beat ♪
♪ Somebody sell me an ounce ♪
♪ I got a bad bitch
that ass fat ♪
♪ Bounce ♪
I can't freestyle tonight.
Hold up.
I'm fucked up tonight.
I'm fucking up
in the bay tonight.
I can't even rap
off my head tonight.
So this is
what we're gonna do.
Since I can't rap off
my fucking head tonight,
we're gonna go right to
the next motherfucking hit.
(somber music)
Time go by your tolerance
get stronger and stronger
and you need more.
Probably like 10
Percocets a day.
Perc 30s and 15s which
are the most powerful.
I spent time like just thinking
about being on probation,
but you know just life
problems in general.
People just don't know
the power of the pill
and they get addicted to
the feeling of being numb,
you know what I'm saying?
It actually kind of
takes away the pain
from your mind frame too,
so you know like you're
numb through the day.
I guess people are addicted
to that feeling, I don't know.
(somber music)
- There were just
rumors and allegations
that Drake didn't
write his rhymes,
and Meek was the messenger
and that's a cardinal
sin in hip hop,
and I think Meek saw
that and was like
this dude doesn't
even write his rhymes.
How can y'all love him?
- You can't just come in this
and not write your own raps
and be claiming you're the
hottest, biggest, baddest nigga.
No, you niggas are soft and
you niggas is fraudulent.
Don't come around
here with that.
I was like out of
control at that point,
the way I was
coming at everybody.
I'm feeling like a lot
of people at that point,
the way I was
talking, stuff I said.
(phone chirps)
(phone chirps)
- Part of me was with it,
'cause we don't
condone ghostwriting
but I'm not gonna lie, like
in my brain I was just like
what are you doing,
what you doing?
You can't do this right now!
Because Drake was a huge star.
Drake responded with
two diss records,
infamously, back to back.
Yeah, your trigger fingers
turn to Twitter fingers.
Yeah, you gettin' bodied
by a singin' nigga.
- He kinda outswagged me.
- In addition to Meek's
problems with Drake,
Meek and Nicki Minaj,
as it turned out,
weren't the most durable couple.
- People were laughing
at him, ridiculing him.
His girl is gone,
the Drake situation.
It didn't go well,
you know, the fallout.
(somber music)
- Meek is at the
airport in St. Louis.
He's got this young
protege with him, Chino,
and he's very solicitous
of this kid's safety.
- Chino had just got
shot in the head.
He still has a
bullet in his head,
and my brother made
a promise to Chino's ma
while Chino was with him
he will protect his life,
and that she had nothing
else to worry about.
- Chino, we're walking
through the airport.
The airport workers
asked me for a picture.
We didn't take the picture,
he follows us out,
cussing us out.
I went to do my show,
did an after party,
came back to the same airport.
Seven o'clock in the morning
the guy's waiting
at the front door.
As Chino walking in to take
our luggage in, he asks him
why is he waiting for his
bag at the front door?
They start fighting.
Another airport worker
started fighting
with the guy that
punches my friend.
I jumps out the car,
try to protect my friend,
started fighting back.
I was arrested.
My lawyer said he was gonna
get the case thrown
out, which he did.
- It's almost like watching
someone crash in slow motion.
- Just turned 30.
You high every day,
you just escaping reality.
Sippin' lean doing
Percs and all that.
I was like, stop playing man.
You can put your
freedom and your family.
I feed my whole family tree.
My son, everybody's like,
come on man, chill out man.
- My probation officer, I told
her I had a dirty urine for her
and she was like, do
you have a problem?
I said yes I got a problem,
and she put me on drug treatment
and I never did a Percocet
ever again in my life.
It was like really that easy.
- Once he asked for
help, I was like wow.
I never really knew that he
was fighting these battles
until it was time
for him to get help.
- When he was in rehab,
for me it was sad,
like being really
close with somebody
and seeing how adamant they were
in making a better
life for themselves.
- I never knew that my
son was on oxycontin
until a person
accidentally told me
that my son was on Percocets.
They thought that I knew.
Rihmeek wasn't
accepting my calls.
Then eventually Rihmeek told me
after he got his self
together 'cause he was saying
that's why he wasn't
accepting my calls.
He was trying to get
his life together.
(dramatic music)
♪ Been my way of life ♪
♪ First time in prison I
had to stay the night ♪
- In 2017, Meek
is back in a studio.
- Once he fully was clean,
he was super motivated.
That project came off the public
feeling like his
career was over,
and he was like you know what
I'm just gonna name
the album Wins and Losses
because they see
me have my wins,
they see me have my losses
and we were like,
that's perfect.
♪ As I walk through the valley
with my ladder in flex ♪
♪ I'm the realest nigga in it ♪
♪ I just happen to rap ♪
♪ When they all thought
we was finished ♪
♪ They was laughing at that ♪
♪ So I went and
bought me a don ♪
♪ And flipped the
hat to the back ♪
♪ Fuck 'em ♪
- For you to inspire people,
which I feel Meek really does,
you have to put those
losses on full display.
♪ They want to see me fall ♪
♪ And I will never
sell my soul ♪
♪ I'm on some shit that
they ain't seem before ♪
♪ Dream chasing
catching all my goals ♪
- People need to know
that you acknowledge
that you took losses, right?
You're human, things happen,
but you can get
back up from them.
♪ Back when I was broke
they was cool with it ♪
♪ Now every move I make
I'm in the news with it ♪
♪ Even if I ain't do it
they be like you did it ♪
♪ My teacher always used to
tell me you gon' lose nigga ♪
♪ That's why I never
went to school nigga ♪
♪ And why I'm rapping like I
got something to prove nigga ♪
- His best records have
been him being vulnerable.
- He dusted himself
off, and he comes back
with another stellar album.
You know it's really
a classic in my mind,
and he really
reestablished himself
as a superstar and a major
force in the music game.
- He's made a third
album in three years.
At this point, house
arrest is over.
He's free to travel.
He's finally in a place
where he's going to be able
to tour that album
all over the world.
He's also doing
promotional appearances.
Meek is in New York City to
film the Jimmy Fallon Show.
After the taping,
he goes uptown.
- I'm by my car 'cause my car
is parked on a little block.
Bikes roll by.
As a kid, I fell in love
with like dirt bikes.
- Yo bitches what's up?
- I got neighbors, all my
neighbors have dirt bikes.
We wheelie up and down
the block all day.
That night, when
bikes came through,
now we wheelying up
the street.
(engines revving)
We go back around the block,
get off the bikes,
go about our business.
- Next thing he knows it winds
up on social media feeds.
- I don't know who seen
it or how they seen it,
but the next day I
just got locked up.
(sirens wail)
- Meek is pulled
over and arrested by 12 cops
for reckless endangerment.
-Oh, this shit crazy, son.
They lockin' Meek up, son.
-Malik, right?
-Who?
-Meek Meekie Malik...
-No.
-Mill something, whatever it is.
-Wrong name. What we do?
Do me a favor.
Step out of the car.
-Me?
-Yeah, you. Come on.
What happened?
What did I do?
You? You weren't riding around
with a motorcycle yesterday?
No, I'm not on
no motorcycle.
Yesterday. I didn't say today.
Yesterday, you weren't
riding up and down the streets
wheeling like a microman?
Yesterday, right?
I got pictures of you,
I got video of you
riding up and down, right?
-I just want to know my rights.
-Step out.
- Police
say they relied on
video posted on social media
as proof, and then they
arrested him a night later.
- My lawyer came to
the police station.
He told me they was
charging me with a felony,
and I'm like why
are they charging me
with such a high offense
for wheelying a motorcycle?
The next day, the
charges was thrown out
without even going to trial,
and the DA decided
I had to take
a driving class,
and that was it.
- The charges are dismissed.
However, Genece Brinkley calls
a violation of probation
hearing herself.
Not the district
attorney's office,
not Meek's probation officer,
the judge herself.
(ominous music)
- Meek Mill
is facing the judge
for violating his probation.
He'll be in court on
Monday, and that's because
he got taken into
custody after a fight
at an airport in
St. Louis in March,
and then he was arrested
for recklessly driving
on his dirt bike
in New York City.
Both cases have been dropped,
but they have to
determine whether or not
he violated his probation.
- They were
both dropped though.
Both cases were dropped,
so it shouldn't even
be an issue.
(somber music)
- I was first asked
to get involved
in Meek's case when
it became apparent
that there was gonna
be a violation hearing
in front of Judge Brinkley.
Became pretty clear to me
that the technical violations
that we were talking about,
in my mind,
were not in any way
criminal conduct.
I was confident that there
would be a positive outcome,
because the district
attorney's office
was of the same mind
that I was,
which was that he had done
wonderfully on probation.
I'd spoken to the
probation department.
It was their view that he
should get every benefit
of the doubt where these
violations were concerned.
So when you have that
kind of situation,
you walk into court
feeling confident.
(eerie music)
When I first
got there that day,
I knew something
was terribly wrong.
We walked into court and I saw
seven deputy sheriffs there.
- I've been in that position
four or five times before,
so once you see sheriffs, you
know somebody going to jail,
and I'm the only one on
the other side of the fence
that's a defendant.
- Meek was so comfortable
at this point in the system,
he was so comfortable with
being violated, sadly so,
to the point where he knew
to wear two pair of socks
and two pair of underwear
if it came to the point
of whether or not
he was going to
be able to come home or not.
- All rise
for the honorable
Judge Genece Brinkley.
(somber music)
- We're here today
because the court has scheduled
a violation of probation hearing
based upon the activities
of the defendant.
- When the hearing began,
the probation department
presented its first witness.
It was a probation officer
who started to tell the judge
that he had done
wonderfully on probation.
That he had turned
his life around.
- They told the
judge that he really
technically didn't
violate because
they had dropped all
the charges in New York.
But at the end of the day,
Judge Brinkley did
what she wanted to do.
- I've been trying to
help you since 2009,
and every time
I do more and more
and give you break after
break after break to help you,
you basically thumb
your nose up at me
and do what you want
the way you want.
So my sentence today
is two to four years
in the state prison.
(ominous music)
- I was crying.
You know, we could not believe
that this was even possible.
Two to four years
of your life.
- I've been in front
of judges for 35 years.
What I witnessed was something
that made me
sick to my stomach,
and made me wonder
why I was even a lawyer.
(gavel bangs)
- Everything
she been doing
has been against the grain.
You going against
the district attorney,
the probation officer,
it was outrageous.
- She wasn't trying to listen
to nothing nobody said.
Certain stuff that I can say
that it might get
everybody in trouble,
so I really don't even
want to speak on her
'cause I'm really
pissed at her
and the things I would say.
I don't think
it's for the cameras.
(ominous music)
- Yeah I went
to prison on the spot.
Shackled up.
- He became at that
point a victim,
a victim of injustice.
There was not one person
who felt like he deserved
this to happen to him.
(somber music)
- Meek Mill's story
is way too familiar
to too many black families
across the United States.
How he was being
railroaded is an indication
of how America is
failing black men.
It lets you know that no
matter how much fame you have,
how much success and
wealth you have amassed,
you still are seen as a
nigga in the eyes of America.
(somber music)
- I really believe you know,
a lot of people don't
really understand
what's going on,
or don't believe it
'til they really see it.
Meek is not the only one.
You tell people these
stories, you can't believe it
until you hear it, like
you hear it from a source
and it's like this
is not fantasy.
This is fact.
You know, these are just things
that are so far that
I have to say something.
(dramatic music)
- I think this really
kind of struck very deeply
for all of us, and you
know one of the things
that we know how to
do well as a company
is to raise the
volume on things.
(dramatic music)
We took that same
level of hustle
to really
do something about it.
- The only way to fight
is to raise awareness
and put real pressure
on the powers that be
to bring this story
to a national level.
(dramatic music)
- So many people we know
have been through this.
And it was like, wow.
This is a shot for
everyone to be heard.
(ominous music)
Free Meek, free Meek,
free Meek, free Meek, free Meek!
- Demonstrators upset
over Meek Mills' sentencing
rallied outside the criminal
justice center yesterday.
They say his sentence of two
to four years behind bars
for a probation
violation is harsh.
- Free Meek Mill!
Free Meek Mill!
Free
Meek Mill!
- I mean folks in
Philly were coming out.
It was bringing black
and white together,
rich and poor together,
bringing young and old together.
It was a movement.
- Free Meek Mill!
- Free Meek Mill!
- Here today to demand
the immediate release
of Robin Williams,
AKA Meek Mills.
- Free Meek,
free Meek, free Meek!
- We're not gonna act like
Meek Mill is an angel,
that he's perfect,
but he's a man
and we must continue
to stand with Meek
and the millions
that he represents.
- Justice for Meek!
We want justice for Meek!
- This is not about one judge!
This is not about one court!
This is about an entire
system that has been unfair
to black and brown people
and people who do not
have the resources!
- Free Meek
Mill, free Meek Mill,
free Meek Mill, free Meek
Mill, free Meek Mill,
free Meek Mill, free
Meek Mill, free Meek Mill,
free Meek Mill, free Meek
Mill, free Meek Mill!
- Rob, what's up my man?
- Hey, what's up?
- Meek and I met four
or five years ago
at an NBA All Star game.
I had no idea who Meek was,
he had no idea who I was,
and yeah we just
started talking basketball,
he was like,
"Oh, you're the guy
who's involved with
the Philadelphia Sixers,"
and he started
coming more and more.
We just became more
and more friendly.
Meek used to always
say to me like, "Michael,
you don't get it,
there's two worlds."
He said, like, "There's
the world you live in,
"and then the world for kind
of the underprivileged
black person,
and we get treated
completely differently."
I used to always tell
him it was bullshit.
Don't act like a victim,
you're wrong.
But I watched what happened
in the courtroom that day.
Everything was just so wrong.
That's the two worlds
I didn't understand.
The criminal justice system
for a lot of African American
people, completely broken.
I don't care what it takes,
I will not stop
until he's out of jail
because this is horrific.
When you got
a friend who you know
who's been so wronged
by a broken system,
you know, you've got
the ability to help,
I don't know how you don't.
(somber hip hop music)
- When I went in prison,
they put me in the hole
and the hole is like,
I'm locked in 23 hours a day.
They put me on
the fucking mental ill block
where people was
like cop killers,
people that's like
crazy as hell
back here screaming
from morning 'til night.
People shitting, wiping
shit all on the doors.
All you smell
was shit and piss.
Just like a mental torture.
You're disconnected
from the world
on every level,
you know what I'm saying?
I think I was in a state
of shock or depression.
Kind of drives you crazy.
♪ My judge black don't
wanna see me do well ♪
♪ It's either that or
black people for sale ♪
♪ Get me two to four years
like fuck your life ♪
♪ Meet me in hell ♪
♪ And let it burn like Lucifer ♪
♪ Look even stupider trying to
impress the people in power ♪
♪ When power abusin' us ♪
♪ For $44 a hour you
coward they're using ya ♪
♪ 'Cause of self hate,
they made you send me upstate ♪
♪ That's where the
so-called real niggas ♪
♪ Sweeping up for cupcakes ♪
(hip hop music)
- I visited Meek in jail
10 to 15 times.
I knew nothing about
the criminal justice system,
but I knew what I saw and
witnessed was, you know,
couldn't be more wrong.
If you've got a minor
probation violation,
you shouldn't sit in prison.
So I wrote a letter
to the judge.
I was on the phone,
calling different people,
trying to get people
mobilized to help,
like Jay-Z and Roc Nation.
- You're not
protecting society.
This is not a person
that's a risk or...
a menace to society.
He was not causing any danger.
That's an ax to grind.
This is fucked up.
You know?
And it's like, we gotta
do something about this.
- Jay-Z made a commitment
that they weren't
gonna leave him behind.
They were not going to
leave that man behind.
- We were in it.
We were in the middle of it,
getting lawyers
and speaking with Rubin.
- I said okay, we need to
immediately get aggressive.
So Jay-Z and Roc Nation
and myself,
we started donating
to different
criminal justice organizations
that hired investigators
to look into the judge.
- Here's Rich.
- Does Rich appear there?
- Rich is here.
- Okay.
Our firm specializes
in what we consider
investigations in
the public interest.
We were hired by
Meek's advocates.
- Our clients are thinking that
there must be some
kind of animosity
because they can't
understand why Judge Brinkley
goes against the wishes
of the prosecutors,
who say Meek deserves
no jail time,
and it's not just
the sentencing decision.
There were a whole
bunch of things
that made Meek's legal
team concerned about
whether the judge was too
emotionally wrapped
up in this case.
Our primary assignment
is to figure out
what's going on with
this particular judge
and is there any sort
of legal argument
that Meek's team can make
either towards recusal
or towards getting a
reconsideration of the sentence.
So we spent some time looking
into the judge's conduct,
and we were startled to find
some of the things we did.
- We found evidence that
she owned a lot of property,
and we're finding that she
is suing dozens of people.
Many of the people she's
suing are her own tenants.
- She sued the
Hershey Hotel for $15,000
because according
to her court papers,
she suffered trauma,
sleeplessness, flashbacks,
and nightmares after waking
up in the middle of the night
to find an employee's
name tag on her hotel bed.
Brinkley is suing people
involved in car
accidents with her,
suing the city zoning board,
suing neighbors for dog bites
despite no report
of broken skin.
We're seeing a litany of
lawsuits involving this judge.
- I almost didn't believe
it when they told me.
Like what do you mean,
she's got 30 or 35 lawsuits?
Like, I'm 45 years old,
I own multiple businesses.
I think I've had like one real
lawsuit in my entire life.
- We found documentary
evidence that she would state,
in a civil case with somebody,
something to the effect of
you know I'm a judge, right?
- As you know, I am a judge
in the court of common pleas
and I will not hesitate
to proceed against
you or to sue you.
There's a very explicit
prohibition that says a judge
shall not use his or her
judicial office or standing
to gain an advantage over
other people in negotiation.
- This goes to the
personality of Brinkley
that might speak to
why she imprisoned Meek.
- Judges are supposed
to recuse themselves
if they're not able
to be objective.
If maybe this judge is not
as objective as we need
a judge to be, let's get the
case before another judge.
- Meek's lawyers make a
campaign against Brinkley
in order to get Brinkley
to recuse herself.
- This is new video
of Judge Genece Brinkley today.
Mill's attorneys
have filed documents
seeking to have her
removed from his case.
Attorneys for Mill say she has
exceeded her judicial role.
- We believe that
there has been enough
that has been shown about
the unfairness of this judge.
There is no good reason for him
to be sitting in
prison today, none.
- The rapper's
attorney filed a 157 page motion
for Judge Genece Brinkley
to recuse herself in his case.
- The judge is the only
person in the building
who wants
the brother locked up.
That's wrong,
that's not supposed
-to be that way, that's wrong.
-(audience applauds)
You know what judge,
recuse yourself.
Let another judge look at it.
Fuck that judge!
- This judge has a bias,
and she's a black woman judge,
and she oughta know better.
- After getting
nowhere with interview requests
to talk to Judge
Brinkley at work,
we stopped by her
Philadelphia home.
(knocking)
No answer.
- Morning everybody,
it's DJ Envy,
Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God.
We are The Breakfast Club.
We have a special
guest in the building.
- You are Meek Mill's attorney.
- Yes, one of them.
- Now what
the hell is going on?
What is going on
with this judge?
Give us the details,
give us the whole rundown.
- Meek has been in jail over
a bullshit probation violation,
and she gave him two to
four years despite the fact
- that the DA requested
no jail time.
- Right.
- We'd know about that Boyz
II Men request that she made.
- Was that true?
That just seems crazy to me.
- Yeah it's a first for me.
You know that's something that
is completely inappropriate.
- Why can't this judge
get removed from the case?
I know that was the effort
that you were making.
- And we're still making it,
I mean more than ever,
more than ever now,
it's clear she has--
Look, she hired a
lawyer to threaten us,
and me in particular that she
was gonna sue for defamation.
(somber music)
(phone rings)
- Genece Brinkley has
been bashed in the press.
Her reputation is at stake
here, and her hands are tied.
She's handcuffed because
she's not allowed to respond,
so she's asked me
to do that for her.
I've represented four
sitting judges before,
and Genece Brinkley's
a tough judge.
She's no nonsense.
As a defense lawyer,
she's one of about 10 judges
that I would rather
not get assigned to
because it's gonna be
tough on my client.
First of all, the
public has to understand
there's been many times
where a defendant
has been incarcerated
and the district attorney
did not ask for incarceration.
It's up to the
judge to determine
whether the person's
in violation
and whether incarceration
is warranted.
Then we have the allegation
that Judge Brinkley
asked the defendant Meek Mill
to include her in a song
and give her a shout out.
That is 1,000% made
up, and she is not
a lawsuit happy person as
she's been painted to be.
She does file for
eviction in court.
She does file for back rent
because that's what
she's entitled to,
and now they want her
to disqualify herself
saying she can't be fair.
This is a judge who's
done nothing wrong.
She's not gonna recuse herself.
She's gonna be the ultimate
decision maker in the case,
and I am waiting for anyone
to throw an allegation at her
that has some credibility,
some credence, some meat to it.
- Right here, Philadelphia
judge Genece Brinkley
releasing her decision today.
She wrote this about
recusing herself quote,
"This court committed no error
"and no relief is due.
"The motions for
recusal were untimely
"and all issues contained
therein were waived."
(somber music)
- Judge Brinkley, she shot
down all Meek's requests.
You know, the
requests that the team
has made to recuse herself--
- Yeah, she says she
will not recuse herself.
She's his judge, and
pretty much cut and dry,
just that simple.
- And it's like all
our hope was like phew,
it's like, it's hopeless
you know what I mean?
It's a hopeless situation.
The system is fucked up.
You get in it, and it's
gonna be hard as hell
and you get a judge
like Judge Brinkley?
You can just kiss
your ass goodbye.
- Yeah, pretty much.
(gentle piano music)
- It been this
way my whole life.
I never seen the
justice side of justice.
You lose hope, and you
don't believe in justice
if you've never felt that.
I'm thinking about
being depressed
and caught up in what I'mma do
in here for two to four years
and how am I gonna get
out this situation?
If it's possible.
(somber music)
- What are we trying
to do here, right?
We're not trying to
besmirch a judge.
We're trying to get
Meek out of prison.
- We're not surprised when
she refused to recuse herself,
so we're going back
to the drawing board.
- Why is he in
there in the first place?
We have to understand how
he got into this predicament.
- We realize that to help Meek,
we need to expand
the investigation
beyond just Brinkley.
- When I got involved,
nobody was doing the
deep dive on this.
No one had thought to
take a hard, clinical look
at the original
facts of the case.
Open the mug shot.
See how badly he's
beaten after this?
- Our investigation
transitions quickly
from looking at Brinkley
to looking all the way back
to the original arrest, the
very beginning of the proceeding
to January 2007.
- This is the
section of the report
where they narrate the
confrontation with the gun.
- From the very beginning,
Meek has claimed his
innocence on two charges.
Assault from pointing a
gun at a police officer,
and possession of cocaine.
- They observe
Williams pull a black gun
from the front of his pants,
and point it directly
at the officers.
- Very quickly, we begin
to develop information
to suggest that what was
in the official record
is not what really
happened that day.
- I have never seen a case
built on less.
(dramatic music)
- Probation is revoked.
- After the travel violations,
now Meek would have
his probation extended
by two years
as well as house arrest.
He's also effectively barred
from leaving the
city of Philadelphia,
and at this point,
shit gets interesting.
- After she sentenced
me to house arrest,
she adjourned court and
just said me and Nicki,
told me and Nicki
to come in the back.
- This is out of ear shot
of reporters and
all the lawyers.
- She asked me
about doing a remix
to Boyz II Men Bended Knee
and shout some
important people out
like my mother,
herself, Nicki.
I was astonished that
a judge even talking
about do a remix to a song.
Like you know what I'm saying?
I'm like, I'm not even
like a R&B singer.
So you know that kinda
was an eyebrow raiser.
(suspenseful music)
- He came from the back of the
chambers, and he walked out.
He said, "Man, you
wouldn't believe
"what the fuck she
said to me, man."
I was like get the fuck out.
And he said, "Yeah, man."
He said, "This shit is crazy."
If that was me, I'd be
dancing in the courtroom.
I'd be like hell yeah.
For my freedom, hell yeah.
I'd make that song.
He said, "Man, I ain't
selling out to nobody."
And that's what he told me.
"I'm not selling out to nobody."
She's his judge.
She's still got
her thumb on him.
(somber music)
- Another day on
fucking house arrest.
I can't go outside, but
they're still making me
into a motherfucking monster.
- Under terms of house arrest,
Brinkley also forbade
him from making money
on existing recordings.
- You're telling me
I can't release music.
What do releasing music
have to do with the fact
that I got locked up
with a gun in 2007?
How the hell am I
gonna pay the bills
to the house that I'm
at on house arrest
'cause before I got
on house arrest,
three months before
that I couldn't travel.
Then three months after
that I got house arrest
and I can't put out music,
so that's half of my year.
So I'm going a half a year
without making a dollar.
- The fact that
you want somebody
to have a dry spell of no money,
I just don't think it
always had the consideration
of how he could live.
You have these people,
you have family,
you have friends,
you have charities
and financially everybody
wanting, wanting,
wanting from you.
- All right, but hit me,
let me know what's up.
- I think that just brought
a lot of stress onto him.
- Come from nothing, we wasn't
supposed to make it this far.
We made it this far, we
can make it anywhere.
I look at my young nigga Pac.
I know that I can't
stop, I won't stop.
I don't got a choice.
(ominous music)
- It's a tragedy what Meek
Mill is going through.
Suppose everything the
cops said he did, he did,
but to have that define your
relationship with society
where you're selling
records, you're doing good,
you're raising your kids,
but you literally
can't go out of town
without getting another
adult's permission
and you're in your thirties?
That makes no sense.
It's dehumanizing,
it's degrading,
and then people are supposed
to deal with that perfectly.
- All this pressure in general
and then all this
disappointment,
and then being in this
hopeless kind of situation.
♪ This is my blues ♪
♪ Do me one favor ♪
♪ Take a few steps back ♪
♪ Coming back down
on my own again ♪
♪ And look at yourself ♪
♪ Matter of fact, take
yourself outside your body ♪
♪ And then look at yourself ♪
♪ And see how you
playing yourself nigga ♪
♪ This is the
blues I'm playing ♪
- I always felt like
I was a big rapper
and the way I carry myself,
we live kind of
like a flashy life
but I couldn't sleep for years.
♪ When the night is
cold and lonely ♪
- To have some
worries on my mind
waking up in the
middle of the night.
♪ Was it the money
that made me a savage ♪
♪ Poppin' them Percs
and I made it a habit ♪
♪ Totin' them pictures
and serving them addicts ♪
♪ That was exciting to me ♪
♪ I'm so excited to be ♪
- Over the years,
while on probation,
Meek tests dirty occasionally
for prescription drugs.
♪ This is the midnight blues ♪
- I went to the dentist
for my wisdom tooth
getting pulled out,
and I took Percocet.
Every day I probably
would take two, two, two.
Now when I didn't take two
I start feeling like bad,
and my body started aching.
I took two again.
Next thing you know, I
was addicted to Percocets.
And then it was just like
a way to take me away
from my problems really.
♪ Bounce bounce bounce ♪
♪ I'm looking for the beat ♪
♪ Somebody sell me an ounce ♪
♪ I got a bad bitch
that ass fat ♪
♪ Bounce ♪
I can't freestyle tonight.
Hold up.
I'm fucked up tonight.
I'm fucking up
in the bay tonight.
I can't even rap
off my head tonight.
So this is
what we're gonna do.
Since I can't rap off
my fucking head tonight,
we're gonna go right to
the next motherfucking hit.
(somber music)
Time go by your tolerance
get stronger and stronger
and you need more.
Probably like 10
Percocets a day.
Perc 30s and 15s which
are the most powerful.
I spent time like just thinking
about being on probation,
but you know just life
problems in general.
People just don't know
the power of the pill
and they get addicted to
the feeling of being numb,
you know what I'm saying?
It actually kind of
takes away the pain
from your mind frame too,
so you know like you're
numb through the day.
I guess people are addicted
to that feeling, I don't know.
(somber music)
- There were just
rumors and allegations
that Drake didn't
write his rhymes,
and Meek was the messenger
and that's a cardinal
sin in hip hop,
and I think Meek saw
that and was like
this dude doesn't
even write his rhymes.
How can y'all love him?
- You can't just come in this
and not write your own raps
and be claiming you're the
hottest, biggest, baddest nigga.
No, you niggas are soft and
you niggas is fraudulent.
Don't come around
here with that.
I was like out of
control at that point,
the way I was
coming at everybody.
I'm feeling like a lot
of people at that point,
the way I was
talking, stuff I said.
(phone chirps)
(phone chirps)
- Part of me was with it,
'cause we don't
condone ghostwriting
but I'm not gonna lie, like
in my brain I was just like
what are you doing,
what you doing?
You can't do this right now!
Because Drake was a huge star.
Drake responded with
two diss records,
infamously, back to back.
Yeah, your trigger fingers
turn to Twitter fingers.
Yeah, you gettin' bodied
by a singin' nigga.
- He kinda outswagged me.
- In addition to Meek's
problems with Drake,
Meek and Nicki Minaj,
as it turned out,
weren't the most durable couple.
- People were laughing
at him, ridiculing him.
His girl is gone,
the Drake situation.
It didn't go well,
you know, the fallout.
(somber music)
- Meek is at the
airport in St. Louis.
He's got this young
protege with him, Chino,
and he's very solicitous
of this kid's safety.
- Chino had just got
shot in the head.
He still has a
bullet in his head,
and my brother made
a promise to Chino's ma
while Chino was with him
he will protect his life,
and that she had nothing
else to worry about.
- Chino, we're walking
through the airport.
The airport workers
asked me for a picture.
We didn't take the picture,
he follows us out,
cussing us out.
I went to do my show,
did an after party,
came back to the same airport.
Seven o'clock in the morning
the guy's waiting
at the front door.
As Chino walking in to take
our luggage in, he asks him
why is he waiting for his
bag at the front door?
They start fighting.
Another airport worker
started fighting
with the guy that
punches my friend.
I jumps out the car,
try to protect my friend,
started fighting back.
I was arrested.
My lawyer said he was gonna
get the case thrown
out, which he did.
- It's almost like watching
someone crash in slow motion.
- Just turned 30.
You high every day,
you just escaping reality.
Sippin' lean doing
Percs and all that.
I was like, stop playing man.
You can put your
freedom and your family.
I feed my whole family tree.
My son, everybody's like,
come on man, chill out man.
- My probation officer, I told
her I had a dirty urine for her
and she was like, do
you have a problem?
I said yes I got a problem,
and she put me on drug treatment
and I never did a Percocet
ever again in my life.
It was like really that easy.
- Once he asked for
help, I was like wow.
I never really knew that he
was fighting these battles
until it was time
for him to get help.
- When he was in rehab,
for me it was sad,
like being really
close with somebody
and seeing how adamant they were
in making a better
life for themselves.
- I never knew that my
son was on oxycontin
until a person
accidentally told me
that my son was on Percocets.
They thought that I knew.
Rihmeek wasn't
accepting my calls.
Then eventually Rihmeek told me
after he got his self
together 'cause he was saying
that's why he wasn't
accepting my calls.
He was trying to get
his life together.
(dramatic music)
♪ Been my way of life ♪
♪ First time in prison I
had to stay the night ♪
- In 2017, Meek
is back in a studio.
- Once he fully was clean,
he was super motivated.
That project came off the public
feeling like his
career was over,
and he was like you know what
I'm just gonna name
the album Wins and Losses
because they see
me have my wins,
they see me have my losses
and we were like,
that's perfect.
♪ As I walk through the valley
with my ladder in flex ♪
♪ I'm the realest nigga in it ♪
♪ I just happen to rap ♪
♪ When they all thought
we was finished ♪
♪ They was laughing at that ♪
♪ So I went and
bought me a don ♪
♪ And flipped the
hat to the back ♪
♪ Fuck 'em ♪
- For you to inspire people,
which I feel Meek really does,
you have to put those
losses on full display.
♪ They want to see me fall ♪
♪ And I will never
sell my soul ♪
♪ I'm on some shit that
they ain't seem before ♪
♪ Dream chasing
catching all my goals ♪
- People need to know
that you acknowledge
that you took losses, right?
You're human, things happen,
but you can get
back up from them.
♪ Back when I was broke
they was cool with it ♪
♪ Now every move I make
I'm in the news with it ♪
♪ Even if I ain't do it
they be like you did it ♪
♪ My teacher always used to
tell me you gon' lose nigga ♪
♪ That's why I never
went to school nigga ♪
♪ And why I'm rapping like I
got something to prove nigga ♪
- His best records have
been him being vulnerable.
- He dusted himself
off, and he comes back
with another stellar album.
You know it's really
a classic in my mind,
and he really
reestablished himself
as a superstar and a major
force in the music game.
- He's made a third
album in three years.
At this point, house
arrest is over.
He's free to travel.
He's finally in a place
where he's going to be able
to tour that album
all over the world.
He's also doing
promotional appearances.
Meek is in New York City to
film the Jimmy Fallon Show.
After the taping,
he goes uptown.
- I'm by my car 'cause my car
is parked on a little block.
Bikes roll by.
As a kid, I fell in love
with like dirt bikes.
- Yo bitches what's up?
- I got neighbors, all my
neighbors have dirt bikes.
We wheelie up and down
the block all day.
That night, when
bikes came through,
now we wheelying up
the street.
(engines revving)
We go back around the block,
get off the bikes,
go about our business.
- Next thing he knows it winds
up on social media feeds.
- I don't know who seen
it or how they seen it,
but the next day I
just got locked up.
(sirens wail)
- Meek is pulled
over and arrested by 12 cops
for reckless endangerment.
-Oh, this shit crazy, son.
They lockin' Meek up, son.
-Malik, right?
-Who?
-Meek Meekie Malik...
-No.
-Mill something, whatever it is.
-Wrong name. What we do?
Do me a favor.
Step out of the car.
-Me?
-Yeah, you. Come on.
What happened?
What did I do?
You? You weren't riding around
with a motorcycle yesterday?
No, I'm not on
no motorcycle.
Yesterday. I didn't say today.
Yesterday, you weren't
riding up and down the streets
wheeling like a microman?
Yesterday, right?
I got pictures of you,
I got video of you
riding up and down, right?
-I just want to know my rights.
-Step out.
- Police
say they relied on
video posted on social media
as proof, and then they
arrested him a night later.
- My lawyer came to
the police station.
He told me they was
charging me with a felony,
and I'm like why
are they charging me
with such a high offense
for wheelying a motorcycle?
The next day, the
charges was thrown out
without even going to trial,
and the DA decided
I had to take
a driving class,
and that was it.
- The charges are dismissed.
However, Genece Brinkley calls
a violation of probation
hearing herself.
Not the district
attorney's office,
not Meek's probation officer,
the judge herself.
(ominous music)
- Meek Mill
is facing the judge
for violating his probation.
He'll be in court on
Monday, and that's because
he got taken into
custody after a fight
at an airport in
St. Louis in March,
and then he was arrested
for recklessly driving
on his dirt bike
in New York City.
Both cases have been dropped,
but they have to
determine whether or not
he violated his probation.
- They were
both dropped though.
Both cases were dropped,
so it shouldn't even
be an issue.
(somber music)
- I was first asked
to get involved
in Meek's case when
it became apparent
that there was gonna
be a violation hearing
in front of Judge Brinkley.
Became pretty clear to me
that the technical violations
that we were talking about,
in my mind,
were not in any way
criminal conduct.
I was confident that there
would be a positive outcome,
because the district
attorney's office
was of the same mind
that I was,
which was that he had done
wonderfully on probation.
I'd spoken to the
probation department.
It was their view that he
should get every benefit
of the doubt where these
violations were concerned.
So when you have that
kind of situation,
you walk into court
feeling confident.
(eerie music)
When I first
got there that day,
I knew something
was terribly wrong.
We walked into court and I saw
seven deputy sheriffs there.
- I've been in that position
four or five times before,
so once you see sheriffs, you
know somebody going to jail,
and I'm the only one on
the other side of the fence
that's a defendant.
- Meek was so comfortable
at this point in the system,
he was so comfortable with
being violated, sadly so,
to the point where he knew
to wear two pair of socks
and two pair of underwear
if it came to the point
of whether or not
he was going to
be able to come home or not.
- All rise
for the honorable
Judge Genece Brinkley.
(somber music)
- We're here today
because the court has scheduled
a violation of probation hearing
based upon the activities
of the defendant.
- When the hearing began,
the probation department
presented its first witness.
It was a probation officer
who started to tell the judge
that he had done
wonderfully on probation.
That he had turned
his life around.
- They told the
judge that he really
technically didn't
violate because
they had dropped all
the charges in New York.
But at the end of the day,
Judge Brinkley did
what she wanted to do.
- I've been trying to
help you since 2009,
and every time
I do more and more
and give you break after
break after break to help you,
you basically thumb
your nose up at me
and do what you want
the way you want.
So my sentence today
is two to four years
in the state prison.
(ominous music)
- I was crying.
You know, we could not believe
that this was even possible.
Two to four years
of your life.
- I've been in front
of judges for 35 years.
What I witnessed was something
that made me
sick to my stomach,
and made me wonder
why I was even a lawyer.
(gavel bangs)
- Everything
she been doing
has been against the grain.
You going against
the district attorney,
the probation officer,
it was outrageous.
- She wasn't trying to listen
to nothing nobody said.
Certain stuff that I can say
that it might get
everybody in trouble,
so I really don't even
want to speak on her
'cause I'm really
pissed at her
and the things I would say.
I don't think
it's for the cameras.
(ominous music)
- Yeah I went
to prison on the spot.
Shackled up.
- He became at that
point a victim,
a victim of injustice.
There was not one person
who felt like he deserved
this to happen to him.
(somber music)
- Meek Mill's story
is way too familiar
to too many black families
across the United States.
How he was being
railroaded is an indication
of how America is
failing black men.
It lets you know that no
matter how much fame you have,
how much success and
wealth you have amassed,
you still are seen as a
nigga in the eyes of America.
(somber music)
- I really believe you know,
a lot of people don't
really understand
what's going on,
or don't believe it
'til they really see it.
Meek is not the only one.
You tell people these
stories, you can't believe it
until you hear it, like
you hear it from a source
and it's like this
is not fantasy.
This is fact.
You know, these are just things
that are so far that
I have to say something.
(dramatic music)
- I think this really
kind of struck very deeply
for all of us, and you
know one of the things
that we know how to
do well as a company
is to raise the
volume on things.
(dramatic music)
We took that same
level of hustle
to really
do something about it.
- The only way to fight
is to raise awareness
and put real pressure
on the powers that be
to bring this story
to a national level.
(dramatic music)
- So many people we know
have been through this.
And it was like, wow.
This is a shot for
everyone to be heard.
(ominous music)
Free Meek, free Meek,
free Meek, free Meek, free Meek!
- Demonstrators upset
over Meek Mills' sentencing
rallied outside the criminal
justice center yesterday.
They say his sentence of two
to four years behind bars
for a probation
violation is harsh.
- Free Meek Mill!
Free Meek Mill!
Free
Meek Mill!
- I mean folks in
Philly were coming out.
It was bringing black
and white together,
rich and poor together,
bringing young and old together.
It was a movement.
- Free Meek Mill!
- Free Meek Mill!
- Here today to demand
the immediate release
of Robin Williams,
AKA Meek Mills.
- Free Meek,
free Meek, free Meek!
- We're not gonna act like
Meek Mill is an angel,
that he's perfect,
but he's a man
and we must continue
to stand with Meek
and the millions
that he represents.
- Justice for Meek!
We want justice for Meek!
- This is not about one judge!
This is not about one court!
This is about an entire
system that has been unfair
to black and brown people
and people who do not
have the resources!
- Free Meek
Mill, free Meek Mill,
free Meek Mill, free Meek
Mill, free Meek Mill,
free Meek Mill, free
Meek Mill, free Meek Mill,
free Meek Mill, free Meek
Mill, free Meek Mill!
- Rob, what's up my man?
- Hey, what's up?
- Meek and I met four
or five years ago
at an NBA All Star game.
I had no idea who Meek was,
he had no idea who I was,
and yeah we just
started talking basketball,
he was like,
"Oh, you're the guy
who's involved with
the Philadelphia Sixers,"
and he started
coming more and more.
We just became more
and more friendly.
Meek used to always
say to me like, "Michael,
you don't get it,
there's two worlds."
He said, like, "There's
the world you live in,
"and then the world for kind
of the underprivileged
black person,
and we get treated
completely differently."
I used to always tell
him it was bullshit.
Don't act like a victim,
you're wrong.
But I watched what happened
in the courtroom that day.
Everything was just so wrong.
That's the two worlds
I didn't understand.
The criminal justice system
for a lot of African American
people, completely broken.
I don't care what it takes,
I will not stop
until he's out of jail
because this is horrific.
When you got
a friend who you know
who's been so wronged
by a broken system,
you know, you've got
the ability to help,
I don't know how you don't.
(somber hip hop music)
- When I went in prison,
they put me in the hole
and the hole is like,
I'm locked in 23 hours a day.
They put me on
the fucking mental ill block
where people was
like cop killers,
people that's like
crazy as hell
back here screaming
from morning 'til night.
People shitting, wiping
shit all on the doors.
All you smell
was shit and piss.
Just like a mental torture.
You're disconnected
from the world
on every level,
you know what I'm saying?
I think I was in a state
of shock or depression.
Kind of drives you crazy.
♪ My judge black don't
wanna see me do well ♪
♪ It's either that or
black people for sale ♪
♪ Get me two to four years
like fuck your life ♪
♪ Meet me in hell ♪
♪ And let it burn like Lucifer ♪
♪ Look even stupider trying to
impress the people in power ♪
♪ When power abusin' us ♪
♪ For $44 a hour you
coward they're using ya ♪
♪ 'Cause of self hate,
they made you send me upstate ♪
♪ That's where the
so-called real niggas ♪
♪ Sweeping up for cupcakes ♪
(hip hop music)
- I visited Meek in jail
10 to 15 times.
I knew nothing about
the criminal justice system,
but I knew what I saw and
witnessed was, you know,
couldn't be more wrong.
If you've got a minor
probation violation,
you shouldn't sit in prison.
So I wrote a letter
to the judge.
I was on the phone,
calling different people,
trying to get people
mobilized to help,
like Jay-Z and Roc Nation.
- You're not
protecting society.
This is not a person
that's a risk or...
a menace to society.
He was not causing any danger.
That's an ax to grind.
This is fucked up.
You know?
And it's like, we gotta
do something about this.
- Jay-Z made a commitment
that they weren't
gonna leave him behind.
They were not going to
leave that man behind.
- We were in it.
We were in the middle of it,
getting lawyers
and speaking with Rubin.
- I said okay, we need to
immediately get aggressive.
So Jay-Z and Roc Nation
and myself,
we started donating
to different
criminal justice organizations
that hired investigators
to look into the judge.
- Here's Rich.
- Does Rich appear there?
- Rich is here.
- Okay.
Our firm specializes
in what we consider
investigations in
the public interest.
We were hired by
Meek's advocates.
- Our clients are thinking that
there must be some
kind of animosity
because they can't
understand why Judge Brinkley
goes against the wishes
of the prosecutors,
who say Meek deserves
no jail time,
and it's not just
the sentencing decision.
There were a whole
bunch of things
that made Meek's legal
team concerned about
whether the judge was too
emotionally wrapped
up in this case.
Our primary assignment
is to figure out
what's going on with
this particular judge
and is there any sort
of legal argument
that Meek's team can make
either towards recusal
or towards getting a
reconsideration of the sentence.
So we spent some time looking
into the judge's conduct,
and we were startled to find
some of the things we did.
- We found evidence that
she owned a lot of property,
and we're finding that she
is suing dozens of people.
Many of the people she's
suing are her own tenants.
- She sued the
Hershey Hotel for $15,000
because according
to her court papers,
she suffered trauma,
sleeplessness, flashbacks,
and nightmares after waking
up in the middle of the night
to find an employee's
name tag on her hotel bed.
Brinkley is suing people
involved in car
accidents with her,
suing the city zoning board,
suing neighbors for dog bites
despite no report
of broken skin.
We're seeing a litany of
lawsuits involving this judge.
- I almost didn't believe
it when they told me.
Like what do you mean,
she's got 30 or 35 lawsuits?
Like, I'm 45 years old,
I own multiple businesses.
I think I've had like one real
lawsuit in my entire life.
- We found documentary
evidence that she would state,
in a civil case with somebody,
something to the effect of
you know I'm a judge, right?
- As you know, I am a judge
in the court of common pleas
and I will not hesitate
to proceed against
you or to sue you.
There's a very explicit
prohibition that says a judge
shall not use his or her
judicial office or standing
to gain an advantage over
other people in negotiation.
- This goes to the
personality of Brinkley
that might speak to
why she imprisoned Meek.
- Judges are supposed
to recuse themselves
if they're not able
to be objective.
If maybe this judge is not
as objective as we need
a judge to be, let's get the
case before another judge.
- Meek's lawyers make a
campaign against Brinkley
in order to get Brinkley
to recuse herself.
- This is new video
of Judge Genece Brinkley today.
Mill's attorneys
have filed documents
seeking to have her
removed from his case.
Attorneys for Mill say she has
exceeded her judicial role.
- We believe that
there has been enough
that has been shown about
the unfairness of this judge.
There is no good reason for him
to be sitting in
prison today, none.
- The rapper's
attorney filed a 157 page motion
for Judge Genece Brinkley
to recuse herself in his case.
- The judge is the only
person in the building
who wants
the brother locked up.
That's wrong,
that's not supposed
-to be that way, that's wrong.
-(audience applauds)
You know what judge,
recuse yourself.
Let another judge look at it.
Fuck that judge!
- This judge has a bias,
and she's a black woman judge,
and she oughta know better.
- After getting
nowhere with interview requests
to talk to Judge
Brinkley at work,
we stopped by her
Philadelphia home.
(knocking)
No answer.
- Morning everybody,
it's DJ Envy,
Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God.
We are The Breakfast Club.
We have a special
guest in the building.
- You are Meek Mill's attorney.
- Yes, one of them.
- Now what
the hell is going on?
What is going on
with this judge?
Give us the details,
give us the whole rundown.
- Meek has been in jail over
a bullshit probation violation,
and she gave him two to
four years despite the fact
- that the DA requested
no jail time.
- Right.
- We'd know about that Boyz
II Men request that she made.
- Was that true?
That just seems crazy to me.
- Yeah it's a first for me.
You know that's something that
is completely inappropriate.
- Why can't this judge
get removed from the case?
I know that was the effort
that you were making.
- And we're still making it,
I mean more than ever,
more than ever now,
it's clear she has--
Look, she hired a
lawyer to threaten us,
and me in particular that she
was gonna sue for defamation.
(somber music)
(phone rings)
- Genece Brinkley has
been bashed in the press.
Her reputation is at stake
here, and her hands are tied.
She's handcuffed because
she's not allowed to respond,
so she's asked me
to do that for her.
I've represented four
sitting judges before,
and Genece Brinkley's
a tough judge.
She's no nonsense.
As a defense lawyer,
she's one of about 10 judges
that I would rather
not get assigned to
because it's gonna be
tough on my client.
First of all, the
public has to understand
there's been many times
where a defendant
has been incarcerated
and the district attorney
did not ask for incarceration.
It's up to the
judge to determine
whether the person's
in violation
and whether incarceration
is warranted.
Then we have the allegation
that Judge Brinkley
asked the defendant Meek Mill
to include her in a song
and give her a shout out.
That is 1,000% made
up, and she is not
a lawsuit happy person as
she's been painted to be.
She does file for
eviction in court.
She does file for back rent
because that's what
she's entitled to,
and now they want her
to disqualify herself
saying she can't be fair.
This is a judge who's
done nothing wrong.
She's not gonna recuse herself.
She's gonna be the ultimate
decision maker in the case,
and I am waiting for anyone
to throw an allegation at her
that has some credibility,
some credence, some meat to it.
- Right here, Philadelphia
judge Genece Brinkley
releasing her decision today.
She wrote this about
recusing herself quote,
"This court committed no error
"and no relief is due.
"The motions for
recusal were untimely
"and all issues contained
therein were waived."
(somber music)
- Judge Brinkley, she shot
down all Meek's requests.
You know, the
requests that the team
has made to recuse herself--
- Yeah, she says she
will not recuse herself.
She's his judge, and
pretty much cut and dry,
just that simple.
- And it's like all
our hope was like phew,
it's like, it's hopeless
you know what I mean?
It's a hopeless situation.
The system is fucked up.
You get in it, and it's
gonna be hard as hell
and you get a judge
like Judge Brinkley?
You can just kiss
your ass goodbye.
- Yeah, pretty much.
(gentle piano music)
- It been this
way my whole life.
I never seen the
justice side of justice.
You lose hope, and you
don't believe in justice
if you've never felt that.
I'm thinking about
being depressed
and caught up in what I'mma do
in here for two to four years
and how am I gonna get
out this situation?
If it's possible.
(somber music)
- What are we trying
to do here, right?
We're not trying to
besmirch a judge.
We're trying to get
Meek out of prison.
- We're not surprised when
she refused to recuse herself,
so we're going back
to the drawing board.
- Why is he in
there in the first place?
We have to understand how
he got into this predicament.
- We realize that to help Meek,
we need to expand
the investigation
beyond just Brinkley.
- When I got involved,
nobody was doing the
deep dive on this.
No one had thought to
take a hard, clinical look
at the original
facts of the case.
Open the mug shot.
See how badly he's
beaten after this?
- Our investigation
transitions quickly
from looking at Brinkley
to looking all the way back
to the original arrest, the
very beginning of the proceeding
to January 2007.
- This is the
section of the report
where they narrate the
confrontation with the gun.
- From the very beginning,
Meek has claimed his
innocence on two charges.
Assault from pointing a
gun at a police officer,
and possession of cocaine.
- They observe
Williams pull a black gun
from the front of his pants,
and point it directly
at the officers.
- Very quickly, we begin
to develop information
to suggest that what was
in the official record
is not what really
happened that day.
- I have never seen a case
built on less.
(dramatic music)