Face of Nation : Cyntoia Brown, whose life sentence for killing a man when she was 16 inspired a documentary and celebrity support, walked free from prison in Tennessee on Wednesday after 15 years behind bars.”Early this morning offender Cyntoia Denise Brown was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women,”Now 31, she was convicted as a teen of murdering a man she said had hired her for sex.
Brown was 16 when she shot and killed 43-year-old Johnny Mitchell Allen in 2004 after he allegedly paid her for sex. She said that she shot Allen, of Nashville, when she saw him reaching for what she believed was a gun while they were in bed at his home. Prosecutors have argued that the motive was not self-defense as she claimed, but robbery.
At the time of the crime, Brown was a runaway and living with her 24-year-old boyfriend, a pimp known as “Kut Throat,” who she said raped her and forced her into prostitution. Under Tennessee law, Brown would not have been eligible for parole until she served at least 51 years behind bars.
During her time behind bars, Brown earned a GED and an associate degree with a 4.0 GPA, Haslam said in his statement. She also served as a mentor and advocate for women in prison and earned a bachelor’s degree in May, according to The Tennessean. “Transformation should be accompanied by hope,” Haslam said in his January statement.
Brown, in a statement her attorneys released after she was granted clemency, thanked Haslam and her supporters and vowed to spend the rest of her life helping others. “My hope is to help other young girls avoid ending up where I have been,” she said
