MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 1994 indictment lists 16 names of suspects in a multi-year investigation of a Memphis drug ring.
The crime earned two of the 16 suspects a life sentence in federal prison: Alice Marie Johnson and Curtis McDonald.
President Donald Trump granted Johnson clemency this week, following a plea from reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Her commutation has made national headlines.
But what happens if harshly-convicted prisoners don’t have a celebrity champion fighting for their freedom?
McDonald is the only one of the 16 suspects in the original indictment who is still serving time in prison.
“Now it can be our turn,” Melody Martin, McDonald’s niece, told FOX13. “I’m very hopeful.”
Martin was a senior in high school when her uncle was given a life sentence for the non-violent crime.
She said she speaks to McDonald on the phone daily, but hasn’t visited him in nine years. Seeing him in prison is too emotionally draining.
Trending stories:
- Officer who handcuffed black woman in Victoria's Secret did nothing wrong, police say
- Sheriffs deputy unseats boss in primary, is promptly fired
- Man caught on camera stealing hundreds of pieces of mail from USPS truck
- PHOTOS: Mid-South Most Wanted
“After you end your visit you go to this door and you wait at this door for them to open for you to go,” Martin said, describing her visits before she stopped going. “The inmates go to another door for them to be sent back into the prison.
“It's the looking back,” she added, and began to cry. “When you look back you know that he can't go with you.”
McDonald is the son of two loving parents. He has 10 siblings, including Pastor Darryl McDonald, who talked with FOX13 in the sanctuary of his church in Bartlett.
“We thank God for our President for giving Alice Johnson Clemency,” Darryl McDonald said, adding that he had been praying for both prisoners for years. “We were happy for her. We rejoiced.”
Family members say Johnson’s commutation gave them hope for their loved one.
“I know it sounds contradictory when you look at the charges, but he really is a kind person,” Darryl McDonald said. “He's remorseful, and I think he's ready for society, to be with his family, and to be a model citizen once again.”
Johnson celebrated her reunion with family on her co-conspirator's 68th birthday. McDonald’s family hopes he’ll be given the same second chance before another year of life passes.
“I promised my grandmother on her dying bed when she passed from breast cancer that I would not give up,” Martin said. “That would be my promise fulfilled.”
Martin has lead the charge in her family, fighting the criminal justice system to free McDonald.
You can learn more about McDonald and the effort to have his sentence commuted here.
“When I want to give up, I know he's going to call,” Martin said. “I say, ‘You can't give up. You have someone that's depending on you.’”
FOX13’s Kristin Leigh asked what Martin would say to President Trump, if given the opportunity to speak with him.
“I would say, ‘President Trump, please find it in your heart to give my uncle Curtis a second chance,’” Martin said. “He's a good person. I'm sure he won't let you down. We as a family won't let you down."
Cox Media Group