Nicki Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj is still awaiting sentencing after being convicted of child rape – but he’s trying to have the entire case thrown out. Page Six reports that Maraj’s attorney David Schwartz recently filed a petition to have the conviction vacated. Nassau County judge Robert McDonald hasn’t made a decision on the petition, but the filing will delay his sentencing for another month. The 39-year-old Maraj is facing 25-year-to-life for predatory sexual assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child. He repeatedly raped then-wife Jacqueline Robinson’s eight-year-old daughter, and even “coached” her on how to physically tolerate his abuse – according to the now-11-year-old in her court testimony.
Schwartz and Maraj have repeatedly claimed that the girl, her brother, and Robinson fabricated the abuse in an attempt to extort $25 million dollars from Maraj’s chart-topping sister Nicki Minaj. Maraj contends that DNA evidence, including his own semen which was found in the girl’s underwear, was planted by Robinson. Nicki Minaj has not released a statement on the case and did not testify in the trial as she was at one point expected to. She controversially paid to bail him out of jail, then visited him after his conviction – but apparently, that visit only occurred at her mother’s behest.