Julie Chrisley wants a new judge in $36M fraud case

The couple’s convictions were upheld in June 2024 by the Atlanta-based federal appeals court, which also affirmed Todd Chrisley’s sentence. The court ruled that Julie Chrisley must be resentenced, finding sufficient evidence that she participated in the bank fraud from 2007 to 2012, but not that she was involved when it began in 2006.

In September, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross resentenced Julie Chrisley, keeping the original seven-year prison term. Ross also imposed a five-year term of supervised release, increasing the previous three-year term she imposed in 2022.

She reduced to $4.7 million the amount of restitution Julie Chrisley has to pay, from $17.2 million.

Julie Chrisley blasted the judge in a subsequent request that the appeals court overturn the “vindictive” sentence, claiming Ross is biased against the Chrisley family. On Thursday, Julie Chrisley again urged the appellate court to wipe out the sentence and send the case to a different trial judge for resentencing.

“The district court imposed a harsher supervised release term without explanation, triggering the presumption of vindictiveness,” Julie Chrisley’s attorneys said in a court filing. “Resentencing before a different judge is the only appropriate remedy to ensure the reality and appearance of justice.”

Ross’ comments about the Chrisley family during the resentencing hearing are at the core of Julie Chrisley’s bias argument. She claims the judge didn’t like what her daughter, Savannah Chrisley, had to say about the case at the Republican National Convention in July.

Without naming Savannah Chrisley, Ross said during the hearing that she hoped those entrusted with the youngest Chrisley children’s care were not “putting false, misleading and inaccurate information out there.” The judge also said she hoped the children’s well-being was of more concern than television or podcast ratings.

Speaking to reporters immediately after the resentencing hearing, Savannah Chrisley and one of her mother’s lawyers said the judge’s in-court comments were inappropriate, upsetting and politically-driven. Savannah Chrisley said the idea that she would put ratings above her siblings was “laughable.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“Even if the court did not punish Mrs. Chrisley for her daughter’s public statements, the court’s improper comments toward Savannah just before rendering the sentence would lead any reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts to question the judge’s impartiality,” Julie Chrisley’s lawyers wrote Thursday. “This is enough to warrant reassignment.”

Federal prosecutors asked the appeals court to uphold Julie Chrisley’s prison term and instruct Ross to reduce the supervised release term to three years. The increase in supervised release was an error, prosecutors said.

Julie Chrisley’s appeal is unfolding while she and Todd Chrisley plan to seek pardons from Trump. Savannah Chrisley was recently at the White House where she continued to advocate for her parents’ release from prison.

In early February, a family attorney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Todd and Julie Chrisley will file a petition for a pardon, but did not say when. The attorney, Jay Surgent, said Friday that the petition is “still in the works.”

It is not clear when the appeals court will decide Julie Chrisley’s case.