Years after Todd and Julie Chrisley were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the original judge on the case miscalculated the seven-year prison term Julie was dealt.
Following their sentencing in 2022, Todd’s 12-year sentence was upheld. But when it came to the prison time Julie was ordered to serve, it was decided that there was a lack of sufficient evidence to back up her seven-year term.
After the Friday, June 21, hearing, where the judges also upheld the conviction of accountant Peter Tarantino, PEOPLE obtained the judges’ ruling, which suggested that Julie was not involved in any crimes until 2007.
There was not “any specific evidence showing she was involved in 2006,” the judges decided.
“The problem is that we have not located the evidence the district court relied on in adopting that finding,” they wrote in the ruling. “Our review of the record hasn’t revealed evidence to show, even by a preponderance of the evidence, that [Julie] was involved in 2006. Indeed, the government’s brief concedes that the evidence shows Julie ‘participated in the bank fraud conspiracy from 2007,’ not 2006.”
As for what’s next, Julie’s case will be heard in a lower court, where a judge will determine how much time behind bars she should actually spend.
“We’re pleased that the Court agreed that Julie’s sentence was improper, but we’re obviously disappointed that it rejected Todd’s appeal,” Todd and Julie’s family attorney, Alex Little, said in a statement to PEOPLE after the ruling.
“With this step behind us, we can now challenge the couple’s convictions based on the illegal search that started the case,” the lawyer added. “The family appreciates the continued support they’ve received throughout this process. And they’re hopeful for more good news in the future.”
Savannah Chrisley, 26, released a statement as well.
“Didn’t necessarily go as we hoped,” she admitted in a video. “But we do have a little win. What [the ruling] means is that the appeals court could not find any evidence that attributed this $17 million loss amount to my mother. And for that, I am grateful and I hope and pray that the judge can send her home.”
Then, as she read a portion of the opinion, she added a lengthier caption.
“After careful consideration, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm the district court on all issues except for the loss amount attributed to Julie. The district court did not identify the evidence it relied on to hold Julie accountable for losses incurred before 2007, and we cannot independently find it in the record. So we vacate Julie’s sentence and remand solely for the district court to make the factual findings and calculations necessary to determine loss, restitution, and forfeiture as to Julie and to resentence her accordingly,” she wrote.
According to Savannah, she believes her mother could be released from the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, as early as 2026. And when it comes to her dad, who is expected to be released from the Federal Prison Camp Pensacola in 2032, she confirmed she had “some other ideas up my sleeve.”
Around this time last year, in July 2023, Todd and Julie’s attorney, Jay Surgent, spoke of their impending appeals.
“The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals can reverse the District Court, or they could remand the case back for hearings that should have been held that were not held during the course of this trial,” he explained. “We argued very vigorously that their constitutional rights have been violated, and that they basically were not given a fair hearing. It’s all in black and white, actually.”
