Nicki Minaj’s brother may have been convicted of raping his former stepdaughter, but he’s not going down without a fight.
Jelani Maraj plans to appeal a jury’s decision to convict him Thursday of predatory sexual assault against a child and acting in a manner injurious to a child, his lawyer, David Schwartz, told us.
“Absolutely,” Schwartz said of the appeal bid via text message. “So many issues.”
Maraj was ordered held remanded, and will now remain behind bars for the next few weeks until his sentencing Dec. 14.
The 39-year-old is facing up to life in New York State prison.
His victim testified that the man she knew as her father raped her up to four times a week in 2015 when things went bad with the child’s mother. Prosecutors said that the 39-year-old’s semen was also discovered in the crotch area of his accuser’s pants.
But during the three-week trial, Maraj said that the girl’s rape accusations were part of her mother’s plot to extort Nicki Minaj for $25 million and ruin his life. Schwartz questioned the credibility of the girl’s mother and said she could have planted Jelani’s semen to frame him.
Meanwhile, Maraj’s sister Nicki Minaj has not addressed her brother’s conviction.
Source: bossip.com
