Cases Allegedly Reflect Illegal Sentences

After reportedly mishandling cases, some may argue that karma might be controlling this narrative.

The Philadelphia judge who encountered major controversy in 2017 when she sentenced rapper Meek Mill to two to four years in prison after he allegedly violated his probation from an almost decade-old drug and gun case, is facing her own case now.

Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley is facing a legal battle against judicial leadership over claims that concern her attendance at the courthouse and managing her caseload.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Brinkley’s cases allegedly reflect illegal sentences, sentences that run past their maximum date, and failure to address cases remanded to her by higher courts in a timely manner.

Brinkley was transferred to civil court with all of her pending criminal cases reassigned, which she claims is unlawful in her efforts to have it reversed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Reportedly, Brinkley filed a gender and racial discrimination complaint against two Black women supervising judges on the court.

“We have long raised concerns about Judge Brinkley,” Keisha Hudson, chief of the Defender Association of Philadelphia who supports Brinkley’s reassignment, said. “Concerns in terms of judicial temperament and cases on an individual basis.”

Brinkley’s clash with Lucretia Clemons, the supervising judge of criminal courts, reportedly played a major role in the threat to her portfolio of criminal cases. Brinkley stated her relationship with Clemons in her fight, claiming she “favors leniency.”

Brinkley filed a discrimination lawsuit in July against Clemons and Lisette Shirdan-Harris, another supervising judge, based on race, age, and gender. Clemons and Shirdan-Harris ruled to reassign Brinkley’s criminal matters.

“The last place that such shenanigans can be allowed is in our courts where integrity must be the hallmark,” Brinkley wrote in a petition asking the state Supreme Court to reverse the order.

Following Brinkley’s transfer, around 120 cases that Hudson described as “grossly excessive,” are being reviewed for reconsideration by lawyer and judges who described the situation as a “mess’.

According to Hudson, 101 cases were addressed within two days, where more than half were terminated and around a dozen up next in the upcoming weeks.

Brinkley was removed from Meek Mill’s case in 2019 by the Philadelphia Superior Court saying she “heard highly prejudicial testimony … and made credibility determinations in favor of a now discredited witness.”