Meek Mill‘s 2008 criminal case recently took a major shift, and his 11-year-old probation is now behind him.
CBS Philly reports that Mill pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge, and prosecutors have dropped the rest of the charges, with no further punishment for Mill. The deal was accepted Tuesday in a Philadelphia courtroom by Judge Leon Tucker, who also had a few words for the rapper.
“I know this has been a long road for you, and hopefully this will be the end of it,” the judge told him.
In 2008 Mill was convicted on gun and drug charges. He was then sentenced to prison and released in 2009. But that was just the beginning of his legal troubles surrounding the case, which he’ll no longer have to deal with going forward.
“I wanted to thank everybody that ever stood for me out here. All the supporters and people who came out and supported me through the ups and downs, in and out of the system,” Mill told a group of supporters who stood outside the Criminal Justice Center.
“I’m very thankful from the bottom of my heart, everybody that ever mentioned my name or said free Meek or helped me get to this position,” he added. “I’m not on probation no more.”
Mill also said he’d continue to help others in the same situation.
“I know y’all probably got family members in jail or people going through the same thing as me, and I will continue to do what I do with the reform movement and help the people who helped me,” he stated.
The dropped charges come about a month after Mill’s 2008 conviction was overturned in Pennsylvania Superior Court. It was also decided that Judge Genece Brinkley, who many believe had a vendetta against the rapper, would no longer oversee the case.
Brinkley continued to oversee Mill’s probation throughout the years and accused him of violating it several times.
She also sent him back to prison in November 2017 for parole violation and sentenced him to 2 to 4 years. The rapper was released in April 2018 and right away started working toward criminal justice reform with people like Jay-Z and Van Jones.
The three men, along with others, formed The Reform Alliance in January of this year to work on the current laws surrounding probation and parole.
July’s ruling came after the arresting officer in Mill’s case, Reggie Graham, was accused of having credibility issues, and prosecutors said they wouldn’t call him as a witness in a new trial.
Mill also sent a tweet after Tuesday’s hearing and thanked people like Jay-Z for helping him, as well as 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin.
“I’ll continue to use my platform to make communities safer and reform our criminal justice system,” the rapper tweeted.
