Today, Nicki Minaj's brother Jelani Maraj was sentenced to 25 to life for predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child.

He had been locked up since being convicted in November of 2017.  During today's proceedings, Maraj's lawyers read a letter from Minaj, dated Sept. 19, 2016.

In the note, Nicki describes her bro as "the most patient, gentle, genuine, giving, selfless man" she knows and someone "who came to my mother's rescue often when she endured domestic violence so that she & I could sleep peacefully at night."

She also accuses the victim's mother of trying to extort her family and asks the judge to "rethink punishing him for something he did not do."

Maraj's lawyer David Schwartz asked for the minimum sentence -- which would have been 10 to life -- because his client was a "good man" who suffered from hypertension and gout.

Maraj had been accused of treating his 11-year old former stepdaughter as an "indentured sex object," attacking her orally and vaginally up to four times a week.

Nicki, who paid Maraj's bail when he was arrested in 2015, has seemingly distanced herself from her brother since writing that letter.