MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Loved ones are calling for the release of an elderly inmate with COVID-19. They held a march of solidarity in downtown Memphis Friday.
Curtis McDonald was denied compassionate release earlier this month. McDonald is the last co-defendant still behind bars in the drug trafficking operation that famously involved Alice Marie Johnson.
President Trump granted clemency for Johnson two years ago at the request of Kim Kardashian.
"The sentence that Curtis McDonald received 23 years ago was just unjust. It's time for him to get out. He has COVID-19 now in prison and he was just denied compassionate release. His cellmate also has COVID-19, from what I'm told the entire block has COVID-19,” said Catina Johnson, Alice Marie Johnson’s daughter.
McDonald's family says he's shown an exemplary record since being sentenced to life without parole in 1997. It was his first felony and conviction.