Rapper Meek Mill, who has spent the majority of his adult life on probation after a teen arrest, celebrated the latest twist in his legal case on Friday when he was pardoned by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.
“I got pardoned today,” the 35-year-old rapper born Robert Williams tweeted, noting his accomplishments.
Under an Instagram photo of the pardon, the Philadelphia rapper-turned-entrepreneur, who has long been involved in criminal justice reform, vowed to continue doing more for his community.
This week, Wolf signed his final 369 pardons, breaking the Pennsylvania record for the most pardons granted since taking office in 2015. Williams was exonerated of all gun and drug charges.
A judge found Williams guilty of drug and gun charges in 2008 and sentenced him to one to two years in prison followed by ten years of probation.
In 2017, a judge sentenced Williams to two to four years in prison for violating probation, citing a failed drug test, failure to comply with a travel restriction order, and two unrelated arrests. Despite the fact that a prosecutor and a probation officer recommended that Williams not be imprisoned, the judge issued the ruling.
Williams was imprisoned for months before being released, and his conviction was overturned in 2019 by a Pennsylvania appeals court because new evidence called the arresting officer’s credibility into question. In a deal that resolved his 2007 arrest, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour gun charge the following month.
