WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Reality Television star and cosmetics mogul Kim Kardashian West met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday to seek potential pardon for a 63-year-old great-grandmother who is serving life in prison.
The meeting with Trump was the latest episode of months of behind-the-scenes efforts by the glamorous celebrity to free Alice Marie Johnson. Alice has been in prison for 21 years for a first-time, non-violent drug offense.
In 1996, she was convicted of charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to the American Civil Liberty Uniton, Johnson is one of 3,278 people serving life without parole for a non-violent offense.
The majority of these sentences were mandatory, meaning judges had no discretion over the length or severity of the sentence. For life without parole sentences like Johnson's, clemency is almost the only hope.
Attorney Brittany K. Barnett, a member of Johnson's legal team, said 'it seems like the meeting was positive, and it is in President Trump's hands now as to what he decides to do.'
Trump described it as a 'great meeting,' and said that they had discussed 'prison reform and sentencing.' He posted on Twitter a photo of him and Kardashian West posing in front of the West Wing before the meeting.
In a tweet thanking Trump for allotting his time, West said 'It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms. Alice Marie Johnson...We are optimistic about Ms. Johnson's future and hopeful that she and so many like her will get a second chance at life,'
West also met with a group of White House officials - including the President's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who has been pushing for federal prison reform. West was accompanied by her lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, in the meetings.
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