How Kim Kardashian Helped Spring Abuse Victim from Prison After Highlighting Trauma She'd Endured (Exclusive)

On Monday, Dec. 16, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will announce he is commuting the sentence of Dawn Jackson, 53, who was imprisoned for 30 years for the 1999 fatal stabbing of her step-grandfather Robert McBride after years of sexual abuse.

The announcement culminates a years-long effort by Kim Kardashian to set Jackson free: “Kim deserves enormous credit on this one,” Murphy tells PEOPLE.

Incarcerated at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility For Women in Hunterdon, N.J., for the past 25 years, Jackson, who first submitted a clemency application in 2018, will walk out this week a free woman. 

“We were all so emotional, we couldn’t believe it,” Kardashian tells PEOPLE in an exclusive joint interview with Murphy. “Just to know these people’s cases were heard and people believe in them the same way we do.”

After being charged with first degree murder in 1999, Jackson was advised to plead guilty and given a 30-year sentence. But it was later revealed that her long history of being sexually abused from the time she was a young girl — by McBride and others close to her during her upbringing — was never allowed in the courtroom.

Kardashian learned of the case in 2019 when Jackson wrote to her detailing the abuse. Jackson explained she had been told by her public defender to plead guilty rather than go to trial.

”I could feel her pain through the letters,” says Kardashian, who’s pursuing a law degree and focusing on criminal justice reform work. She sent Jackson’s correspondence to two lawyers she works with, Erin Haney and Jessica Jackson, both of REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice reform organization.

“I said ‘Erin, we have to help this woman.’ She suffered so much abuse — from the time she was a baby. You think about how we want to protect our kids and to think that no one was there to protect her. None of that [testimony] was allowed.”

Kardashian and Jackson formed a bond, through letters and phone calls. “I think it just is a bit more of an emotional relationship because I deeply feel the compassion that she deserves after everything that she’s been through,” says Kardashian, who began publicly advocating for Jackson across her massive social media platforms, and in 2020, featured Jackson’s story on Kim Kardashian:The Justice Project series on the Oxygen Network.

It’s been an eye opening experience for the billionaire businesswoman, Skims co-founder, reality star and mom of four, who also helped secure the release of Alice Marie Johnson. a grandmother and non violent drug offender in 2018.

“This has been a great journey of empathy,” she says, “and has opened up my heart and soul to so many people that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to get to meet.”

‘She’s endured unimaginable trauma,’ says governor

This past June, Gov. Murphy, a Democrat, launched the Clemency Initiative, which set forth categories of cases for expedited review, including those of survivors of sexual and domestic violence. “Not only did society view domestic violence and survivors differently 30 to 40 years ago, but there’s an enormous gap which jumps out at you,” explains Murphy. “Not just with Dawn but between what somebody could have pled for, versus the sentence they got by going through the full trial.”

Murphy told Jackson the good news on Friday, Dec. 13 — she’s one of 36 individuals who are being granted clemency — and called it, “probably the most emotional moment of my seven years as Governor. She’s lived a hard life. She’s endured unimaginable trauma, sexual abuse, dating way back to when she was a kid. The sentence was too harsh — and if that wasn’t enough she’s taken accountability and she’s a model citizen and I agree completely with Kim.”

When Kardashian first began to work on criminal justice issues, she did not want to get involved with violent cases such as murder. “I thought I’d stay with low level drug offenses,” she says. “But after meeting people inside [prison] and hearing their stories and to look at the picture of Dawn Jackson at 5 and 6 and 7 years old when she was getting raped, you think, ‘How could no one help her?'”

Still, both she and Murphy acknowledge the severity of the charge against Jackson. Says Murphy. “You’d be making a big mistake to not take the seriousness of that crime as a central factor, but at the end of the day, the judgement on Dawn was overwhelmingly that this was the right decision.”

Adds Kardashian, “It’s the notion of throwing someone’s life away forever — especially if you don’t consider what they have been through, especially if it’s been abuse since they were a child. It’s a deeper conversation and a bigger issue.”

Menendez brothers are ‘not a threat to society,’ says Kardashian

The decision also relates to the case of Lyle and Eric Menendez, now serving a life sentence for murdering their parents in 1989 — a sentence Kardashian feels should be reconsidered in light of alleged childhood abuse that was not allowed into their court testimony.

“I know it’s controversial, but even to me, the Menendez brothers, they’re not a threat to society,” she says, “I think we have to be able to understand and take abuse seriously and not just lock people up and throw away the key.”

Jackson, a mom of eleven who obtained a high school diploma and is now pursuing a degree in criminal justice, will now move in with one of her daughters. “It’s jaw dropping, life-changing moment,” says Murphy, “and we’re hoping to bring more of those across the goal line in the next year.”

“Kim knows this but not everyone believes in second chances,” Murphy adds. “And frankly, I think we’re a nation that‘s built on giving people second chances — and at the end of the day, that’s what this is about.”

Meanwhile, Murphy and Kardashian hope to meet Jackson together in the near future and take her to dinner. But for now, Kardashian is finishing up law school.

“I’m in my last course, which has been a five-year journey for me,” she says. “And at the end of this year, I’m taking my final bar exam, and I’m just going to be focusing on that. But we’ll never stop focusing on the cases that we’re working on and figuring out ways to amplify them.”

More information about applying for a pardon or commutation can be found on the website for the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.