Rapper Meek Mill is no longer facing gun and drug charges thanks to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.
“I got pardoned today …, I’m taking things really far from being a trench baby!” the rapper, whose real name is Robert Williams tweeted Friday.
Mill shared a photo of the official pardon on his Instagram along with a promise to “do more for my community.”
The pardon ends a long saga for Mill that started when he was found guilty of drug and gun charges in 2008 when he was 18 years old. He was sentenced to about one to two years in jail followed by 10 years of probation.
Mill was convicted of violating his probation in 2017. A judge claimed he failed a drug test and failed to comply with an order restricting his travel and that he was disrespecting the court. Mill was sentenced to two to four years in prison despite a prosecutor and a probation officer’s recommendation to keep him out from behind bars.
The rapper spent several months in prison and his conviction was overturned in 2019 after new evidence undermined the credibility of the arresting officer. The next month, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in a deal that resolved the 2007 arrest.
Mill has become a strong criminal justice reform advocate over the last several years. Last month, he posted bail for 20 Philadelphia women so they could spend the holidays with their families.
The rapper was one of 369 pardons Wolf signed off on this week. Since taking office in 2015, Wolf has granted 2,540 pardons, setting a record for the state.
“I have taken this process very seriously — reviewing and giving careful thought to each and every one of these 2,540 pardons and the lives they will impact. Every single one of the Pennsylvanians who made it through the process truly deserves their second chance, and it’s been my honor to grant it,” Wolf said in a statement.
With Post Wires