#cyntoiabrown

Tennessee governor grants clemency to Cyntoia Brown

Cyntoia Brown will be released in August.

She served 15 years for protecting herself from a man who paid to rape her when she was only 16 years old.

A month ago, the Tennessee Supreme Court was unanimous when it ruled against Brown saying she would have to serve at least 51 years of her prison sentenced before she would be eligible for parole.

The ruling by the courts came in response to a lawsuit in which Brown argued her sentenced was unconstitutional, citing a 2012 opinion by the US Supreme Court that said mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders violate the US Constitution.

Cyntoia Brown Will Have to Serve 51 Years Before She’s Eligible For Release, Tennessee Supreme Court Rules

“From the beginning, Cyntoia Brown’s life story has been heartbreaking. She was put up for adoption at the age of 2, and her life after that was a traumatic spiral of verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and substance abuse.

At the age of 16, she was sold as a sex-slave to a 43-year-old Nashville realtor—Johnny Mitchell Allan. She was subjected to more abuse by Allan, and in a documentary about her life, she described the abuse and how it made her paranoid.

In 2004, she was tried as an adult for killing Allen. She said she shot him because she feared he was going to kill her. During the trial, she said there was always a gun pointed on her during her captivity. She said she was hit, choked and dragged. She feared for her own life, and she acted out of that fear.

It didn’t matter. A jury convicted the then-16-year-old to life in prison. Under the then-Tennessee law, she would only be eligible for release after serving 51 years of her sentence.

The law in Tennessee has since changed. Now anyone 18 or younger cannot even be charged with prostitution, and that change in law came about because of Brown’s case. Still, it has done little to help Brown.”