Cyntoia Brown, now 31, has been released from a Tennessee prison, after sparking national headlines and furious calls for criminal justice reform.
Imagine being 16 years old, running away from your adoptive parents and finding yourself living in a motel with an abusive pimp. Imagine, in the midst of that, being picked up at a Sonic Drive-In by a 43-year-old stranger who agreed to pay you $150 for sex, and once in bed with him, fearing for your life when you believe he is going to hurt you. Then imagine being sentenced to life in prison, and spending the next 15 years behind bars for shooting him in self-defense.
Under pressure from advocates in January, outgoing Republican governor Bill Haslam granted her clemency, and Brown’s life sentence was commuted to 15 years from the date of her arrest in 2004, when she was tried as an adult for killing Johnny M. Allen, a real estate broker who agreed to pay an underage Brown for sex.she feared for her life when, in bed with Allen, she believed he was reaching for a gun.
Had Brown’s life sentence remained, she would not have been eligible for parole until 2055—after 51 years in jail—when she’d be 67 years old. When announcing that he’d grant Brown clemency, Haslam said she had committed a “horrific crime at the age of 16,” but “imposing a life sentence on a juvenile that would require her to serve at least 51 years before even being eligible for parole consideration is too harsh, especially in light of the extraordinary steps Ms.
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