Judge who sentenced Meek Mill to 2 to 4 years has 'personal vendetta,' attorney says

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Meek Mill's attorney said the Philadelphia judge who put the rapper behind bars Monday has a "personal vendetta" against his client.

Mill was sentenced to two to four years in state prison Monday for violating his probation, which stemmed from a 2008 gun charge. Mill's attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Judge Genece E. Brinkley's sentence was overly harsh considering that the prosecutor and Mill's probation officer both recommended no jail time as the two violations were for arrests dealing with minor incidents and both charges were dropped.

But instead of following the recommendations of the prosecutor and probation officer, Brinkley "excoriated both of them, challenged their credibility and overrode both law enforcement agencies recommendations and went from zero to two to four years, which shows that she clearly had a personal vendetta against [Mill]," Tacopina said in an interview with Billboard.

Tacopina also suggested that Brinkley was retaliating against Mill for not honoring a request she made of him to mention her in a song. The Philadelphia defense attorney said Brinkley asked Mill to record a new version of the Boyz II Men hit, On Bended Knee and then say her name at the end of the recording.

According to Tacopina, Mill thought it was a joke and just laughed off the request, but Brinkley wasn't laughing and said, "Okay, suit yourself."

Tacopina also said Brinkley told Mill he should leave his label, Roc Nation, and sign with a friend of hers, which Mill did not do.

"Meek made it out of his community and became a true superstar and maybe she wants to have certain control of him. Maybe she's jealous of him," Tacopina said. "Maybe she felt scorned that he didn't add her in a song that she may have requested for."

"She's exhibited enormous bias," Tacopina told the New York Times.