One man's story

Meek Mill

Meek Mill is a rapper from Philadelphia who has become a prominent face in the fight for criminal justice reform.

The initial charges stemmed from an incident of police brutality when he was 19 years old. He was leaving his cousin's house when the narcotics department served a warrant. He had a gun on him after witnessing multiple shootings in his poor Philly neighborhood. He claims that he took the firearm out of his waistband and threw it to the ground as he surrendered to the police.

The officers tackled him, beat him, and cuffed him, then took him inside and threw him into multiple objects while he was unable to protect himself. Barely conscious, he went to the hospital and was charged with 19 counts, including pointing a firearm at a police officer and selling crack.

The officer claimed to have seen Meek selling crack on a street corner the day before the incident, which is what led to the search warrant. No drugs were entered into evidence. Meek has maintained his innocence regarding both the simple assault and drug charges.

He was sentenced to 11-23 months in jail followed by 8 years probation. Even though he amassed fame and success and didn't commit any crimes in the decade that followed his incarceration, he has been stuck in a criminal justice system that is no longer working to keep our society safe but rather designed to repress the poor and vulnerable.

Paul Solotaroff of Rolling Stone set out to write an article, #FreeMeekMill, about how the probation and parole system is harming, rather than protecting society, using Meek Mills as the perfect example. Meek has had dozens of hearings for minor technical violations of probation. His probation has been extended, he has been on house arrest and ordered not to work, sentenced to etiquette training and even back to jail for things like scheduling violations and using prescription medication.

During the time that Rolling Stones was working on the article, Meek Mill was sentenced to 2-4 years in jail for popping a wheelie, proving just how crazy the probation system is. But by this time, Meek had the attention of the music community and friends with resources who investigated the original arrest.

Since his arrest, multiple members of the narcotics department, including the arresting officer on the case, Reggie Graham, were investigated and terminated for being involved in a widespread corruption ring, resulting in thousands of new trials and acquittals. Graham was placed on a "Do Not Call" list of 66 police officers that the DA no longer deemed credible. He resigned before being dismissed.

The original case is riddled with issues. The two serious charges we're 1) selling crack and 2) pointing a gun at officers.

1) Selling crack - this goes back to the search warrant, which was issued based on a statement by Graham, a now known dirty cop. He said that he saw from his vehicle Meek leave his cousin's house on a bike, go two blocks away, saw a clear bag exchange hands, then bike back to his cousin's house. From where his car was parked, it would have been impossible for him to see what actually transpired. Graham later testified to a story that was inconsistent with the statement given to obtain the warrant. In his testimony, he said that he got out of his car and followed Meek on foot, and saw the exchange. This also doesn't pass the sniff test. Any reasonable person would see how implausible it is that a drug dealer would come out of a stash house on bike, not notice a known narcotics officer chasing after him for two blocks, sell drugs right in front of him, then immediately return to the stash house. The warrant also describes someone completely different from Meek, 5’8, light-skinned with no mention of braids. There was also no property entered into evidence from the supposed drug sale.

2) Pointing a gun at officers - the second serious offense was simple assault for pointing a gun at officers during the raid the following day. It was the same officer, Reggie Graham, who accused Meek of this crime. Another officer who was there during the arrest, Gerald Gibson, admitted that if at any time Meek pointed a gun in the direction of officers, he would have shot him. And every one of the other officers would have done the same. Police brutality was immediately brought to the attention of internal affairs who exonerated all of the officers involved in the arrest that night. The reason they were exonerated was the claim of a gun pointed at officers. By claiming Meek pointed a gun at them, they were able to avoid reprimand for the brutality committed.

UPDATE: Meek Mill plead guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge. The DA decided to not retry him on any of the other charges. After nearly 12 years, he is free from government oversight.