Trump commutes term of Kardashian-championed drug offender

PanARMENIAN.Net - Flexing his clemency powers once again, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, June 6 commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, The Associated Press reports.

"BEST NEWS EVER!!!!" was the exuberant Twitter response from Kardashian West, who visited the White House last week to press the case.

Alice Marie Johnson, 63, had spent more than two decades behind bars, serving life without parole for drug offenses. She was released hours after the White House announcement and ran into her family members' arms.

Michael Scholl, a member of Johnson's legal team, said she was released just before 6 p.m. from federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama. Footage from local news station WVTM-13 showed Johnson running toward her family, throwing her arms wide-open and embracing them in front of a crowd of onlookers.

"Everybody was crying and hugging," Scholl said.

"I'm just so thankful. I feel like my life is starting over again," Johnson said moments after her release, calling Kardashian West an "angel" and thanking Trump "for giving me another chance at life and restoring me to my family."

Unlike a pardon, the commutation will not erase Johnson's conviction, only end her sentence.

Trump's decision, his latest inspired by a celebrity champion, comes amid a flurry of recent pardons issued by the president. He says he's considering a long list of other clemency actions for those famous and not, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving 14 years in prison for corruption, and celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart, who served about five months on charges connected to an insider trading case.

Kardashian West described the moment via Twitter.

"Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget," said the Armenian-American star

Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation involving more than a dozen people. The 1994 indictment describes dozens of deliveries and drug transactions, many involving Johnson.

Federal courts including the Supreme Court rejected her appeals. Court records show she had a motion pending for a reduction in her sentence, but prosecutors were opposed, saying the sentence was in accord with federal guidelines based on the large quantity of drugs involved.