President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the life sentence of a woman who was convicted of nonviolent drug offenses after celebrity socialite Kim Kardashian West pleaded her case last week, according to multiple reports.
Alice Johnson, 63, has been jailed for more than two decades, according to The Associated Press. She was not eligible for parole.
"BEST NEWS EVER!!!!" Kardashian West wrote in a Twitter post after Axios first reported the pardon.
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.
Her case caught the attention of Kardashian West, who advocated for Johnson's release in conversations with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Johnson's family said in a Change.org petition calling for clemency for the grandmother.
The president has issued several pardons since his January 2017 inauguration. Last week he pardoned conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to violating campaign finance laws.
The president has also issued pardons for former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and boxer Jack Johnson, among others.
The president told reporters last week that he is considering pardoning television personality Martha Stewart, who pleaded guilty in 2004 to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators in connection to an insider trading investigation.
He said he is also thinking about commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted in 2011 of misusing his power.
Unidentified sources told CNN on Wednesday that Trump has prepared the paperwork to pardon at least 30 people. It was not immediately clear when the expected pardons would be announced.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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