NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cyntoia Brown, championed by celebrities as a symbol of unfair sentencing, was released early Wednesday from the Tennessee Prison for Women, where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a man who had picked her up for sex at 16.
Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and Lebron James had lobbied for Brown’s release, calling her a sex trafficking victim. She was granted clemency in January by outgoing Gov. Bill Haslam.
Now 31, Brown will remain on parole for 10 years, on the condition she does not violate any state or federal laws, holds a job and participates in regular counseling sessions, Haslam’s commutation says.
Brown released a statement Monday saying she wants to help other women and girls suffering sexual abuse and exploitation.
“I thank Governor and First Lady Haslam for their vote of confidence in me and with the Lord’s help I will make them as well as the rest of my supporters proud,” she wrote.
Brown was convicted in 2006 of murdering 43-year-old Nashville real estate agent Johnny Allen. Police said she shot Allen in the back of the head at close range with a gun she brought to rob him after he picked her up at a restaurant in Nashville to have sex with her.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against life-without-parole sentences for juveniles. But the state of Tennessee argued successfully that Brown’s sentence was not in violation of federal law because she would be eligible for parole after serving at least 51 years.
Haslam said that was too harsh a condition for a crime Brown admitted to committing as a teen, especially given the steps she has taken to rebuild her life. She earned her GED and completed university studies as an inmate.
Brown ran away from her adoptive family in Nashville in 2004 and began living in a hotel with a man known as “Cut Throat,” who forced her to become a prostitute and verbally, physically and sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.
Brown’s lawyers contended she was a victim of sex trafficking who not only feared for her life but also lacked the capacity to be culpable in the slaying because she was impaired by her mother’s alcohol use while in the womb.