Kim Kardashian West met a death row inmate accused of murdering four people and said she is “hopeful” he will be cleared.
Kevin Cooper is being held at California’s San Quentin State Prison having been sentenced to death in 1983. The now 61-year-old was found guilty of four killings.
Reality TV star Kardashian West, who has become a prominent judicial reform campaigner, met Cooper on Thursday and said she believes he is innocent.
Alongside a picture of the pair, Kardashian West wrote on Twitter: “I had an emotional meeting with Kevin Cooper yesterday at San Quentin’s death row.
“I found him to be thoughtful and honest and I believe he is innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted.”
Kardashian West, wearing a black outfit for the meeting while Cooper wore a blue prison-issue top, thanked California governor Gavin Newsom for halting further executions in California, where the death penalty is legal.
She said: “I am hopeful that Kevin will be exonerated since DNA testing has now been ordered on Kevin’s case and I remain grateful to Governor Newsom for ending capital punishment in California.”
According to US showbiz website TMZ, Cooper was convicted of killing a husband and wife, their 10-year-old daughter and their 11-year-old neighbour.
Last year Kardashian West asked Jerry Brown, the then-governor of California, to review Cooper’s case, citing evidence he had been framed.
DNA testing has been ordered and results are pending.
This is not the first case Kardashian West, who is married to the rapper Kanye West, has taken an interest in.
She was pivotal in the case of grandmother Alice Marie Johnson, whose life sentence for drugs offence was commuted by Donald Trump last year.
Kardashian West, a 38-year-old mother-of-four, first found fame starring in her reality TV show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.