Meek Mill Faces New Judge in Gun Case

Meek Mill has to wait a few more weeks to find out if his 2008 gun conviction gets tossed out or if he gets a new trial -- but that's all happening in front of a new judge, which has to be a huge relief for the rapper.

Judge Leon Tucker was presiding Tuesday morning when Meek walked into the Philadelphia courthouse. He's replacing the controversial Judge Genece Brinkley for Meek's potential retrial, which was granted by a panel of judges in Pennsylvania Superior Court in July.

Tuesday's hearing was an extremely brief bail hearing. Meek was released on his own recognizance, and Judge Tucker said both sides will return August 27 for a status hearing. At that point, they'll figure out whether to go to trial or just drop the whole matter.

As we reported ... it's highly unlikely prosecutors will refile the case and retry Meek. His attorney Joe Tacopina tells us, "While we had hoped that this matter would end today, we remain confident that justice will prevail in Meek's case once and for all."

That's because the main witness in the '08 case turned out to be a dirty cop, and a retrial over a decade later would mean the memories of other witnesses would be less reliable as well.