Prisoner didn't expect star power in her corner

Lawyer: Cyntoia Brown was victim of sex trafficking.

Cyntoia Brown, who has spent the past 13 years in prison, had no idea that she would suddenly gain the pub- lic support of an A-list parade of celebrities Tuesday.

Rihanna. LeBron James. Snoop Dogg. Cara Delevingne. Kim Kardashian West.

These were among the major figures to use their colossal social media followings to advocate freeing Brown, 29, who her lawyer says was a victim of sex traf- ficking. She was just 16 when she killed a man who had hired her as a prostitute.

Brown’s case had attracted attention in Nashville, and she was the subject of a 2011 PBS documentary, but she had gotten little broader notice until the social media onslaught Tuesday. It was unclear what prompted it, though a local TV station, Fox 17, reported on the case last week.

“We were very, very appreciative of the fact that such an incredible number of celeb- rities would join our plea,” said Charles Bone, a lawyer in Nashville who took Brown’s case pro bono seven years ago and spoke to her by phone Tuesday. “She was thrilled by the fact that people really cared.”

A difficult childhood

Brown’s birth mother testified she drank a fifth of whis- key every day while she was pregnant, and Brown showed telltale signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, which slows brain development, Bone said.

She was adopted by a family in Clarksville, Tennessee, but dropped out of elementary school and ran away to Nashville. When she was 16, she lived in a motel with a pimp known as “Kut Throat” who raped and abused her while forcing her to become a prostitute, Bone said.

“He would explain to me that some people were born whores, and that I was one, and I was a slut, and nobody’d want me but him, and the best thing I could do was just learn to be a good whore,” she testified, according to The Associated Press.

On Aug. 6, 2004, Johnny Allen, 43, picked her up in his truck and drove her to his home, where they got into bed, she told the police. When Allen reached under his bed, Brown thought he was reaching for a gun, according to court documents, so she pulled a handgun from her purse and shot him. She took money and two guns from Allen before leaving.

Brown was tried as an adult in 2006, and a jury rejected her claim of self-defense, find- ing her guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. She was given a life sentence, and is currently in the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. She will not be eligible for parole until she is at least 67, Bone said.

Life in prison

Brown’s supporters have described her as a model inmate. After getting her GED, she got an associate degree from Lipscomb University, a private Christian college in Nashville that teaches classes at the prison. She hopes to earn a bachelor of arts degree by next year, Bone said.

State Rep. Jeremy Faison, a Republican from Nashville, visited Brown in 2015 on a friend’s recommendation, and has since been pushing for her early release. They speak about four times per year on the phone, he said.

“I was amazed at the person I met,” he said. “She was kind, intelligent, she had a disposition or presence about her that was just amazing.”

He described Brown as “extremely remorseful,” but said she also thinks “it was unjust what had happened in her life, and what a 40-yearold man was doing to her.”

But Jeff Burks, who prosecuted Brown and is now an assistant district attorney in Madison, Georgia, told Fox 17 in Nashville on Tuesday that she shouldn’t be considered a victim.

“There has been a group of people who have wanted to make Ms. Brown a victim and a celebrity since this happened,” Burks told Fox 17. “She was not ‘trafficked’ nor was she a ‘sex slave.’ It’s not fair to the victim and his family that the other side of this case is so seldom heard.”

Burks did not respond to a request for additional comment.

Legal battle continues

In 2016, Faison introduced a bill in the state legislature that would require reviews of life sentences for juveniles after they serve 15 years in prison. It was roundly defeated.

“I got my butt kicked,” he said, noting that the fiercest resistance came from other Republicans.

Bone has argued Brown deserves a new trial because she received ineffective counsel by a public defender. He also argues that her life sentence is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

A habeas corpus petition is pending in the Court of Appeals, but her lawyers have been unsuccessful so far.