Juror Misconduct Alleged In Case Against Nicki Minaj's Brother

Rapper Nicki Minaj didn’t testify to help her brother, so “that means he is guilty.”

That’s just one example of juror misconduct being alleged by an alternate juror in the case of Jelani Maraj, the brother to the hip-hop star, it was revealed Thursday.

The rapper’s brother was convicted in Nassau County of repeatedly raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter — but now the alternate juror’s allegations of misconduct could force a retrial, and a harrowing return to the witness stand for the victim.

On Friday, Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Robert McDonald summoned jurors back to his courtroom to begin interviewing them — one-by-one and behind closed doors — about the claims of the alternate juror, whose name has not been released.

McDonald said in open court that the alternate juror has alleged that his fellow jurors “expressed their belief that Jelani Maraj was guilty early on in the trial.”

Another juror allegedly “stated they can’t wait for him to be found guilty,” the judge said the alternate juror claimed.

Yet another claimed that if Nicki Minaj doesn’t testify — and she didn’t — “that means he is guilty.”

McDonald had repeatedly admonished jurors not to talk about the case prior to the start of deliberations; such talk, if true, would indicate that some jurors had made up their minds before testimony concluded.

Lawyers for Maraj are trying to get his Nov. 2017 conviction tossed; he remains jailed pending sentencing.

SOURCE