The man accused of killing Nicki Minaj’s father, Robert Maraj, in a February 2021 fatal shooting has been sentenced to prison. On Wednesday, Judge Howard Sturim sentenced Charles Polevich to one year in prison. Polevich had faced up to seven years in prison, although his potential prison term was significantly reduced after he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an incident without reporting and tampering with physical evidence, felony charges.
When Polevich pleaded guilty in May, Sturim said Polevich would receive “no more than a year in prison,” a sentence that both prosecutors and the victim’s widow, Carol Maraj, opposed. However, despite prosecutors arguing that the “severity of the defendant’s conduct” required a harsher sentence, Sturim kept his word. TMZ confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Polevich was sentenced to a year in prison. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he must also pay a $5,000 fine and have his driver’s license suspended for six months.
Polevich’s conviction comes less than two years after the fatal hit-and-run. Nassau County Police confirmed in February 2021 that Minaj’s father was walking on the road between Roslyn Road and Raff Avenue in Mineola, New York around 6:00 pm when he was struck by a vehicle. It was later revealed, to NBC News, that while Polevich initially got out of his vehicle and looked at the injured man, he ultimately left the scene without calling 911. He parked his car in a garage and covered it with a tarp Meanwhile, Maraj was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but succumbed to his injuries. He pleaded guilty to the charges in May.
“He feels tremendous empathy for Mr. Maraj’s family and tremendous remorse for any role he played in his death,” Polevich’s attorney, Marc Gann, said at the time, calling the hit-and-run “completely out of character” for to. client and stating that Polevich may have had a medical problem that caused him to not be “fully aware of what he was doing.”
Reflecting on her father’s death just days after Polevich pleaded guilty, Minaj called it “the most devastating loss of my life,” adding, “I find myself wanting to call him all the time. Even more now that he is gone. May his soul rest in heaven. He was much loved and will be greatly missed.” Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago. Maraj is said to be a former financial executive and gospel singer who struggled with drug addiction. During her childhood, Minaj’s mother, Carol Maraj, and Minaj moved to the Bronx. Carol later founded the Carol Maraj Foundation to help victims of domestic abuse.
