Cyntoia Brown, the 31-year-old woman and trafficking victim who has been imprisoned for 15 years was released from a Tennessee Prison on Wednesday this week, according to the Department of Corrections.
In January, Cyntoia Brown was granted clemency by the state's governer, Bill Haslam. The move came after pressure and headlines decrying the fact that Cyntoia Brown's crime (shooting a 43-year-old man who picked her up for sex) was committed when she was a 16-year-old victim of sex trafficking. Prior to the shooting she had been subjected to considerable trauma, which included being drugged, raped and sold as a child prostitute.
Although her legal team have said that that she will be declining interview requests immediately after leaving prison, in a statement Cyntoia said 'I look forward to using my experiences to help other women and girls suffering abuse and exploitation'
To many - it's a relief that justice has now been restored for her. In 2017 a social media conversation grew around Cyntoia, who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 16.
Celebrities such as Rhianna, Kim Kardashian and Cara Delevigne backed calls for Cyntoia to be released from prison, circulating an image on Instagram with some accompanying text that read: ‘Imagine at the age of 16 being sex-trafficked by a pimp named “cut-throat”. After days of being repeatedly drugged and raped by different men you were purchased by a 43 years old child predator who took you to his home to use you for sex. You end up finding enough courage to fight back and shoot and kill him’.
‘Your arrest as a result tried and convicted as an adult and sentenced to life in prison’, it continues. ‘This is the story of Cyntoia Brown. She will be eligible for parole when she is 69 years old. #FreeCyntoiaBrown’.
What happened to Cyntoia Brown?
Back in 2004, Cyntoia Brown was prosecuted for the death of Johnny Allen, a real estate agent in Nashville who had hired Cyntoia for sex. At the trial, she claimed that Allen had shown her all of his guns before they had sex and afterwards as they laid in bed, thought that he was reaching for a gun and feared for her life.
So, Cyntoia apparently reached for a handgun from her own handbag and shot him in the back in what she described as self-defence. A plea that the jury ultimately rejected later finding her guilty of first-degree murder, premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder and aggravated robbery. She’s since been at Tennessee Prison for Women.
Newsweek Newsweek reported that the prosecutors said that Cyntoia killed Johnny Allen to steal from him, however, and that she took money out of his wallet, took two of his guns, stole his pickup truck and drove away from the scene.
The context to Cyntoia’s back story is a devastating one to get your head around. FOX TV, FOX TV, who accessed a documentary by filmmaker Dan Birman who spent seven years following the case, reported how Cyntoia suffered a history of abuse which made her paranoid. The documentary explained that Cyntoia, her mother and grandmother were all raped.
The film and Cyntoia’s case itself did later contribute to changing Tennesse law in 2011 to detail that no one 18-years-old or younger can be charged with prostitution.
While in prison, Cyntoia graduated with an associates degree from Lipscomb University and was reportedly working towards a bachelors.
Why are people campaigning for Cyntoia Brown?
The biggest controversy that came out of the case was that Cyntoia was underage when she was trafficked into sex work by a man known as ‘cut throat’ and was subsequently subject to years of abuse.
Of the celebrities who have became really vocal about the case, Snoop Dogg shared a picture compared Cyntoia’s case to Brock Turner who ended up with six months in jail for sexual assault while Kim Kardashian tweeted: ‘The system has failed. It’s heart breaking to see a young girl sec trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what’s right.’
‘I’ve called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this’, she added. If she was tried now following the change in Tennessee law it’s thought that Cyntoia would be treated as a victim of child human trafficking
What’s being done about Cyntoia Brown’s case?
After being granted clemency in January, Cyntoia was released on Wednesday the 7th of August 2019.
There has been a long run of petitions, media attention and celebrities calling for justice on social media leading up to this point. Back in 2012, not long after the release of the the Dan Birman documentary, NewsOk NewsOk reported that there was a hearing back in which an attorney called Charles Bone argued alongside Cyntoia’s other attorneys that she deserved a new trial, one reason being because she didn’t get to testify at the first one, and because there was potential evidence to suggest that Cyntoia may have a neurodevelopmental disorder that might have affected her behaviour at the time.
Various petitions circulated which received a lot of signatures - including one on MoveOn.org which achieved over 638,00 signatures, and Change.org, which had over 374,000.
Prior to her release, Cyntoia wasn't eligible for parole until she was 69 years old.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.