In 2017, Nicki Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj was convicted of sexually assaulting his then 11-year-old stepdaughter. He’s facing 25 years to life in prison as his legal team attempts to have his case expunged. To add to his backing, Maraj’s mother is speaking out on her son’s situation.
Carol Maraj shared information with “Hip Hop Hood Report” that may clear her son’s name, noting that the evidence came back inconclusive and jurors violated the basic court mandates before the trial came to a conclusion. “For a high profile case such as this, in my opinion, why didn’t Nassau County put these jurors away, sequestered somewhere so that a child’s father, a mother’s son would get a fair trial?” Maraj questioned. “Why didn’t they do that…and make sure that this case was going to be tried fairly.”
Maraj claims jurors discussed the case outside of the court and ruled her son’s fate before the trial began, using Nicki Minaj’s absence as a measure of culpability. “One of the jurors said, ‘I can’t wait to see his face when I bring him in guilty,’ and ‘that bastard this,’ people were talking,” she said, which is reportedly noted in the court’s transcripts. “But we have the affidavits to prove that they were busy talking about his sister, why didn’t she take the stand, that means that he’s guilty. If his sister didn’t show up that means he was guilty. They totally ignored the evidence that there was no evidence to prove this man guilty. So they went by their own mind, by their own feelings, and they already had him guilty way before the trial ended.”
Maraj also revealed that an alternate juror said her son would be a free man, as noted by the New York Daily News. “As soon as that alternate juror was sent away, he spoke to the press, and he said that he would free Jelani Maraj because there was no evidence,” she said.
Watch the full interview below.
READ MORE: 10-Year-Old Gives Heartbreaking Testimony For Nicki Minaj’s Brother Rape Trial