Cyntoia Brown set to leave Tennessee prison after clemency

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A woman who said she was a 16-year-old sex-trafficking victim when she killed a man in 2004 is scheduled to be released from prison this week after being granted clemency.

Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and other celebrities had lobbied for Cyntoia Brown’s release, and then-Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam agreed in January.

The now-31-year-old Brown will remain on parole supervision for 10 years after her release Wednesday, 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.

In a statement released Monday, Brown said she wants to help other women and girls suffering 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.

Her attorneys said she’s requesting privacy and transition time before she makes herself available to the public.

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 drive-in 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 in lower courts 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 studies with Lipscomb University as an inmate.

Brown met with prison counselors to design a plan for her release, which will include time in a transition center and continuing coursework with the Lipscomb University program, the state Department of Correction said in a news release.

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 mental capacity to be culpable in the slaying because she was impaired by her mother’s alcohol use while she was in the womb.