Meek Mill is to apply for a pardon after his jailing for violating the conditions of his probation.
Meek Mill, 30, checked into prison last week after Pennsylvania judge Genece Brinkley handed him a sentence of two to four years in prison for two arrests that violated his probation from the 2008 drug and gun bust.
The severity of the sentence has sparked outraged protests from the public and hip-hop stars including JAY-Z.
Meek’s attorney Joe Tacopina tells TMZ.com that his client will apply to officials at Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons to get him out of jail.
A petition calling for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to pardon the musician, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, has already garnered 300,000 signatures.
Pennsylvania government officials told the Philadelphia Tribune that the governor did not have the power to interfere in the case.
“Pennsylvania law does not give the governor any unilateral power to review, reconsider or change a conviction,” Wolf’s press secretary, J.J. Abbott said. “The law provides for individuals to apply to the Board of Pardons, which makes recommendations to the governor.”
According to TMZ.com editors the pardon application process may be too time consuming to help Meek, as it can take three years to gain approval.
Tacopina is also filing a motion for Judge Brinkley to remove herself from his case, and an official complaint with Pennsylvania’s judicial conduct board.
He alleges she is biased against his client as he turned down a request to record a special version of Boys II Men’s On Bended Knee for her and refused to sign a deal with a management company run by her friend.
Meek’s probation was originally due to end in 2013, but it has been repeatedly extended for technical violations such as unauthorised trips outside the state for concerts.
