President Trump has commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson, a first-time, nonviolent drug offender who was given a life sentence in 1996, Axios reported Wednesday.
Reality star Kim Kardashian West got involved in Johnson's case, visiting the White House to meet with senior adviser Jared Kushner to advocate on Johnson's behalf. Kardashian West also visited Trump in the Oval Office to alert him of Johnson's disproportionate sentence and to discuss prison reform.
Johnson, 63, gained widespread attention and sympathy after a Mic video recounted her story. Johnson was convicted of facilitating communications in a drug trafficking case, getting a life sentence without opportunity for parole — a severe sentence that criminal justice reform advocates say exemplifies a need for change. Kardashian West called the case "unfair" in October, and sent a team of lawyers to work on freeing Johnson soon afterwards.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Johnson received clemency from Trump, but not a full pardon. She will be released from prison, but her conviction still stands. Read more at Axios.
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsionSpeed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
