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On Friday, October 4, Momolu Stewart was released from prison after 22 years. With a little help from Kim Kardashian and a 2017 law called the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act.

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On Friday, outside of the D.C. Central Detention Facility, Stewart said, “Just appreciate the things that was taken away from me when I was such a young man. You know, just smell the trees, just live life, and honor life. ‘Cause I was buried alive so now I’ve been resurrected. I’m back and I’m better.”

Stewart’s life changed when was he was 16 years old in 1999 and tried as an adult for the murder of Mark Rosebure. The Washington Post reports, “It was New Year’s Day 1997 when Stewart and another teenager confronted Mark Rosebure, 22, at an apartment building in Southeast Washington. Both teens were armed. When Rosebure made a gesture to his waistband, the teens shot Rosebure multiple times. He was unarmed.” The other teen was Halim Flowers, who was released from prison in 2018.

While Kim Kardashian was filming her documentary, “Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project,” she met with Stewart in July. By September, Kardashian wrote a letter to Judge Robert Salerno, which read in part, “While incarcerated Momolu, in an attempt to somehow turn his life around, even though the rest of his natural life would seemingly be spent in prison took classes, including Dr. Howard’s Georgetown Prisoner’s Scholars program.”

She continued, “He helped set up programs to help other prisoners. He took every opportunity to re-imagine his life while staying completely out of trouble.”  Kim also that when Stewart was six, his mother killed his father and he “turned to the streets for guidance.” There were also 40 other letters written on behalf of Stewart.

On Friday, the judge gave the family of Mark Rosebure a chance to speak but they did not attend the hearing.

The Washington Post reported, “D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert Salerno granted the petition to reduce the life sentence of Stewart, 39, to time served.” He will be on supervised probation for five years. See the footage below of him being released on Friday:

The Washington Post describes the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act as, “The District law allows inmates who committed their crimes when they were younger than 18 and spent at least 15 years in prison a chance to have their sentences cut. Under the law, they must show signs of rehabilitation behind bars.”

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