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Kim Kardashian West launches a true crime podcast about a 1994 triple murder
23rd Jun 2020
Keith was convicted of a triple homicide and is serving life in prison, but has questionable evidence kept an innocent man behind bars for 26 years?
In the wake of political unrest and social injustice in the US, Kim Kardashian West is launching a new true crime podcast about inmate Kevin Keith.
In 1994, Keith was convicted of a triple homicide when Marichell Chatman (24), her four-year-old daughter Marchae, and her aunt Linda were shot and killed in Ohio.
Three others were also shot but survived their injuries. However, the case was far from being open-and-shut.
No physical evidence was found linking Keith to the crime. The shooter was masked and while one survivor identified Keith, another identified one of her father’s friends as the attacker.
Guilty until proven innocent
Keith was previously on death row but 13 days before his execution, Ohio governor Ted Strickland commuted his sentence to life in prison after new evidence emerged, placing Keith’s guilt in question.
After multiple appeals, Keith has been unable to overturn his conviction and his case soon caught the attention of Kim Kardashian West.
The reality star has been studying to become a lawyer through an apprenticeship and recently launched The Justice Project, a documentary where inmates share their stories while a team of lawyers works to set them free.
Kim’s efforts have helped free many wrongfully convicted people.
In 2018, she met with President Trump to discuss prison reform and pleaded the case of a woman who had served 22 years in federal prison on a nonviolent drug conviction, Alice Marie Johnson. Trump agreed and commuted Johnson’s life sentence and she was released.
The First Step Act
Soon after, a major bipartisan piece of criminal justice–reform legislation, the FIRST STEP Act, was passed, leading to Kim’s successful petition for the release of over 20 inmates.
The act provides prisoners with a second chance through rehabilitative programs, fair sentencing, and smart confinement. It also provides sentencing relief for certain defendants who received mandatory minimum sentences prior to the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.
Now, on her latest project, Kim has teamed up with television producer Lori Rothschild Ansaldi to follow Keith’s story and help prove his innocence 26 years later.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the true crime podcast will release on Spotify in September, and it just may lead to another release of an innocent inmate from prison.
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