President
Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson on Wednesday. Photos: [Left] Kim Kardashian West with President Trump. [Right] Alice Marie Johnson (Can Do Clemency Foundation )
President Trump has commuted the life sentence for Alice
Marie Johnson, after a high-profile campaign for clemency by reality television
star Kim Kardashian West.
Johnson, 63, was serving a life sentence without the
possibility of parole after being convicted of a first-time nonviolent drug
offense.
Just hours after her life sentence was commuted, Johnson
was released from federal prison and reunited with her family.
Johnson was put on the president’s radar during a meeting
in the Oval Office last week with Kardashian West, who was originally slated to
meet with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to discuss prison
reform.
"Today, President Donald J. Trump granted a
commutation to Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who has
served almost 22 years in Federal prison for a first-time criminal
offense," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Wednesday.
"Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has
been a model prisoner over the past two decades."
Sanders added: "While this Administration will
always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt
to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a
second chance."
The White House said that Johnson's case manager and
vocational training instructor have "written letters in support of her
clemency," and that Johnson has "exhbited outstanding and exemplary
work ethic."
The president commuted Johnson's sentence, which means
her punishment has been wiped out, but her conviction remains on her record. A
pardon would both wipe out the punishment and the conviction.
“Justice has been served today, and it’s long overdue.
Alice has more than paid her debt to society by serving over 21 years of a
life-without-parole sentence as a nonviolent drug offender. Life in prison
without the possibility of parole screams that a person is beyond hope, beyond
redemption. And in Alice’s case, it is a punishment that absolutely did not fit
the crime. President Trump saved Alice Johnson’s life today," Johnson's
attorney Brittany K. Barnett said in a statement Wednesday.
"We are
extremely grateful and hope the President continues to use his clemency power
to save lives.”
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BEST NEWS EVER!!!!
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The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Trump was
strongly considering pardoning Johnson, despite resistance from Chief of Staff
John Kelly and White House lawyer Don McGahn.
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I would like to thank
President Trump for his time this afternoon. It is our hope that the President
will grant clemency to Ms. Alice Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence
for a first-time, non-violent drug offense.
---
Kardashian West tweeted Wednesday: "BEST NEWS
EVER."
“I would like to thank President Trump for his time this
afternoon. It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms. Alice
Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug
offense,” she tweeted last week.
Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts
related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation. Her involvement
with cocaine dealers reportedly came about after she lost her job, her son was
killed, she got divorced and her home was foreclosed on.
He also floated potentially commuting the sentence of former Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning Martha Stewart.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
Brooke Singman is a Politics Reporter for Fox News.
Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.
_____________________
Photo: Kim Kardashian West with President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump granted clemency on Wednesday to
Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender who was given a life
sentence without parole, Mic has learned.
The 63-year-old great-grandmother — whose case has been
spotlighted recently by Kim Kardashian West and Mic’s Opinion desk
— will be released from federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama, where she
has been serving her sentence since 1996.
News of Johnson’s release comes a week after Kardashian
West advocated for her in an Oval Office meeting with Trump.
In an exclusive interview with Mic after
that meeting, Kardashian West said Trump “really spent the time to listen to
our case that we were making for Alice. He really understood, and I am very
hopeful that this will turn out really positively.”
Kardashian West initially became involved in Johnson’s
case in October when she saw a Mic Opinion video featuring
Johnson sharing her story from prison.
“I saw your video,” Kardashian West told Mic.
“If you think about a decision that you’ve made in your life and you get life
without the possibility of parole for your first-time nonviolent offense,
there’s just something so wrong with that.”
After tweeting that
video, Kardashian West enlisted her personal attorney Shawn Chapman Holley to
provide legal support for Johnson’s clemency petition. She has since worked
behind the scenes to advocate for Johnson’s release and even received
a letterin November directly from Johnson.
Mic reported in
May that Kardashian West had spoken multiple times to Trump’s son-in-law and
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in recent months about Johnson’s case.
Kardashian West and Kushner’s phone conversations about Johnson picked up in
recent weeks, which prompted Kushner to bring Johnson’s file in front of White
House attorneys, and then Trump, about a potential release.
Now Johnson will be released from prison just after
celebrating her 63rd birthday and after more than 21 years behind bars.
Johnson was convicted for her role facilitating
communications in a cocaine trafficking operation in Memphis, Tennessee. She
was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole, plus 25 years,
after her co-conspirators testified against her in court.
But inside of prison, Johnson focused extensively on
rehabilitation and became known as a model citizen and a mentor to other women,
as well as a playwright and a minister.
Due to her exemplary behavior, she was granted permission
to participate in a program to hold video conversations with people outside of
prison. Through that program, she spoke to students at Ivy League universities,
as well as employees at top companies like Google, which is how Mic learned
about her story.
In December 2016, then-President Barack Obama granted
clemency to 231 people, many of whom had drug-related
charges, but Johnson was not on the list. That left her fate in Trump’s
hands.
Johnson’s case represents a significant milestone in the
White House’s criminal justice reform efforts, which Kushner has spearheaded.
Since taking office, Kushner has made criminal justice
reform one of his top priorities and has hosted a series of bipartisan dinners
on the topic alongside his wife, senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump.
Kushner also recently organized a bipartisan prison reform summit at the White
House and is working to pass legislation in Congress.
Now that Johnson will walk free, Kardashian West
told Mic she plans to get more actively involved in prison
reform issues moving forward, and said Johnson’s release represents the first
of what she hopes will be many victories for individuals who are trapped in the
criminal justice system.
“I think it’s definitely a bigger issue that has to be
addressed, and I’m glad that I’m starting with her,” Kardashian West said.
For more information on the movement to free Johnson,
visit mic.com/alice.
