Meek Mill’s current parole violation case has re-opened an examination of his 2008 arrest, a moment that plays a factor in his present-day situation. According to Philly.com, the city’s District Attorney’s Office composed a list of its officers who violated legal codes and conduct. A few of the instances include “lying, racial bias, or brutality,” the news site reports.
Now retired officer Reginald V. Graham, who was responsible for arresting Mill (born Robert Rihmeek Williams) 10 years ago was one of the nearly two dozen names listed. Philly.com notes that while this roster was meant to be kept as an internal document to decipher whether an officer’s testimony is needed in certain cases, D.A. Larry Krasner told reporters that it does exist and through further review, certain cases could be terminated.
For Williams’ case, his lawyer, Joe Tacopina says this discovery “affects the core of” the “Dreams and Nightmares” rapper’s conviction and they are planning to launch an investigation “to bring forward a motion that will call to question” his ’08 arrest. Williams was 19 at the time.
“According to the article, there were 800 cases that were either overturned or dismissed based on these corrupt group of officers who made this list of no credibility and they can’t testify and all this stuff,” Tacopina says to VIBE. “It should’ve been 801 because nobody ever told Meek’s lawyers that this cop, the only cop to give evidence against Meek, is one of the cops that was found to consistently testify falsely under oath.”
The reason for Graham’s involvement on the list is still being kept under wraps due to policy carried out by the police disciplinary sector, but he allegedly stole alongside other members in his squadron, according to former officer Jeffrey Walker’s 2016 testimony. While Graham was not convicted on these accusations, Walker was sentenced to two years in prison for other cases of police corruption.
As law officials further investigate the list, criminal defendants might have the opportunity to retry their cases if an officer that was liable to lie under oath and was singled-out to refrain from testifying was involved. Tacopina says Graham fits that description.
“He gave the false evidence that Meek has denied since day one; that he possessed drugs and that he pointed a gun at an officer,” Tacopina says of Graham. “It’s something that we’ve been saying all along, he’s been saying all along, but what’s troubling about it is that the former district attorney, who is now in federal prison, Seth Williams, had this information. They all had this information because they created this list of officers but somehow that information never made its way to Meek Mill’s lawyers, which is really troubling.”
The report not only speaks to Williams’ situation but others that have a similar predicament. “Ninety-nine percent of the cops out there are good and are trying to do the right thing,” Tacopina notes, “but when you have one percent that’s rotten, that’s a lot when you consider the impact on innocent lives they could have.”