Julie Chrisley will have to attend her September hearing in person. And her loved ones fear that the bad news will keep on coming.
This summer, Julie Chrisley asked to skip her resentencing hearing.
It isn’t out of a lack of interest. Rather, the fallen reality TV personality hopes to avoid a long, uncomfortable trip while still in custody. The judge has other priorities, however.
Eldest daughter Savannah Chrisley is bracing herself for the worst. She’s afraid to hope for this nightmare to end soon.
Julie Chrisley must attend her resentencing hearing in person
On September 25, Chrisley Knows Best star Julie Chrisley will attend her resentencing hearing.
She had hoped to attend it remotely. As her attorney has explained, physically attending means traveling — likely in shackles — in a prison vehicle from FMC Lexington in Kentucky all of the way down to Atlanta.
However, WSB Atlanta reports that, for whatever reason, the judge has insisted that Julie Chrisley attend the hearing in person. It is unclear why.
Make no mistake — this is still mostly good news for Julie. Prison is, by design, a miserable experience, dehumanizing the guilty and innocent alike who are confined within its walls. Julie will likely be spending less time in the Kentucky facility than she had imagined.
The appeals court recently vacated Julie Chrisley’s 7-year sentence due to insufficient evidence of her complicity and guilt. (The verdict remains in place, however … appeals are complex)
Most of the time, a resentencing hearing is good news. But it’s not the same as getting to go home in time for Thanksgiving. Julie could still end up spending many more years in prison.
Savannah Chrisley is afraid to hope for the best
Speaking on the Tuesday, August 13 episode of her Unlocked podcast, eldest daughter Savannah Chrisley admitted that she is preparing for the worst ahead of her mother’s resentencing hearing.
“That’s the only dreams that I’ve had recently,” she admitted to her listeners.
“It’s just her coming home and her being at home,” Savannah described. “To the point that I wake up and I’m kind of disoriented. I’m like, ‘Wait. What is happening?’ Because it feels so real.”
“And,” Savannah emphasized, “I’m trying not to get my hopes up.”
She’s not delving into optimism “because, let’s face it, a lot of things within this legal battle have not gone our way.”
Savannah then sagely affirmed: “So I expect the worst, and anything else that is better than that is a win.”
Is the justice system ‘out to get’ Savannah’s parents?
Every now and then, there’s a case where a celebrity commits a minor-to-moderate legal violation and an ambitious prosecutor makes an example of them. It makes a mockery of the justice system, it sends a harsh message, and … it’s likely not what happened here.
Instead, what’s going on with Todd and Julie Chrisley seems to be much more mundane. According to the courts, they committed a crime — including taking out massive fraudulent loans and then declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying them back.
The issue is their disproportionately lengthy sentences for non-violent crimes. The other issue is that they are learning for themselves how broken and dehumanizing our carceral system is.
To be blunt, the Chrisleys — the adults in the family, including Savannah but especially Todd and Julie Chrisley — do not seem to be good people. Not on reality TV, and certainly not behind the scenes.
But seeing Todd and Julie get shorter sentences than Jen Shah — whose crimes targeted vulnerable, elderly victims — just doesn’t sit right with a lot of people. Including the Chrisley couple’s harshest critics.
Maybe Julie Chrisley will get good news at her resentencing hearing. But, like Savannah, we wouldn’t count on it.
