Why Julie Chrisley Sees a Chance for Her Early Prison Release or a ‘Substantially Reduced’ Sentence

Julie Chrisley may be coming home sooner than expected as she looks towards a potential re-sentencing.

On Tuesday’s episode of Savannah Chrisley’s Unlocked podcast, the 26-year-old Chrisley Knows Best alum was joined by her parents Julie and Todd Chrisley’s attorney, Alex Little, to discuss their possible early release.

While answering a fan question about the couple’s potential release during their appeal in early March, Little admitted there was a “slim chance” they would be going home after opening arguments but expressed hope they would be granted “bail.”

The lawyer noted that “Julie is a different situation,” and whether or not the Chrisleys win or lose their appeal, the matriarch can expect to be re-sentenced due to “errors” involving her original sentencing.

“If she is re-sentenced in the summer or the fall of next year, I think her sentence should be substantially reduced,” he added.

Little explained that if Julie were to be awarded a three-year sentence, she could even come home “some time next year.”

“That’s not out of the question,” he said, adding, “And I think the hard part when you talk to clients and talk to families about things like that is, that is an option on a spectrum of options. And so you don’t want to give people false hope. You want to be realistic, that is certainly an option.”

Alex also claimed that the First Step Act would “for sure” apply to Julie and affect her resentencing. The bill, signed into law in 2018, is a criminal justice reform bill that promotes the rehabilitation of convicted individuals and reduces excessive sentences.

“Again, we don’t know whether the judge would actually apply it in a way to reduce her sentence,” he continued. “We think it should if the judge would have followed the guidelines. And that could happen, you know, this year, early next year.”

In September 2023, PEOPLE confirmed that Todd, 54, and Julie, 51, had already been granted reduced sentences.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ online inmate search system, the Chrisley family patriarch will now leave the Federal Prison Camp Pensacola on Jan. 22, 2033, which is nearly two years before his original 12-year sentence was meant to conclude.

Julie’s seven-year sentence, on the other hand, was shortened by 14 months. She will now be released from the Federal Medical Center Lexington on Oct. 19, 2028.

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The couple were indicted in August 2019 for 12 counts of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy, all of which they have denied. The couple was cleared of their state tax evasion charge in Georgia in October 2019 but continued to face federal charges for allegedly evading federal taxes.

Following a nearly three-week-long trial that began in May 2022, the Chrisleys were sentenced that November to a combined 19 years in prison. Despite having appealed the case, they reported to prison on Jan. 17.