Why Cyntoia Brown should be released
Years of abuse preceded murder 14 years ago
Everything about Cyntoia Brown’s story is tragic and complicated.
On Aug. 6, 2004, Johnny Allen picked up Brown, a 16-year-old runaway, at a fast food restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee.
The 43-year-old real estate agent agreed to pay to use the child for sex.
Once they were in bed together at Allen’s house, Brown would later tell authorities, the man reached for what she thought was a gun. That’s when she pulled out her own gun. And shot Allen to death. Brown then stole guns and cash, and drove away in his truck.
Two years later, a jury convicted Brown, tried as an adult, of murder and aggravated robbery. Now 30, she’s serving life in prison.
Yet, Brown’s story neither begins nor ends with those facts alone.
As with most child trafficking victims, Brown’s background was filled with abuse, neglect and exploitation. Her story compels us to think about the devastating consequences of commercialized sexual abuse. It also calls us to think about what justice truly means.
And it’s one that should lead Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to grant clemency before he leaves office in January.
To understand why, we need to explore not only the facts of Brown’s case but also her life before she ended up in the bed of a man 27 years her senior.
The string of tragedies started before Brown was born. Her mother drank a fifth of whiskey a day while she was pregnant. As an infant, Brown showed signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, a condition that leads to reduced reasoning and an inability to control impulses.
Although later adopted by a family in Clarksville, Tenn., Brown dropped out of school and ran away. She ended up on Nashville’s streets where a pimp recruited her into the sex trade.
Brown told police after her arrest that the pimp beat and raped her. He also verbally abused her, destroying her independence and self-esteem.
“He would explain to me that some people were born whores, and that I was one ... the best thing I could do was just learn to be a good whore,” Brown said at a parole hearing.
While reporting on the EXPLOITED project, a 10-part series published by the USA TODAY Network this year, I interviewed dozens of trafficking survivors and reviewed scores of federal and state court records. Brown’s history of neglect, abuse and exploitation closely parallels the experiences that many victims suffer.
Years after the abuse ends, survivors often struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder. They’re haunted by memories of times when five or more sex buyers a day paid to abuse them. Some will be tormented for the rest of their lives.
But victims become survivors, and survivors find healing and restoration. Many complete an education, land jobs and start families.
By most accounts, Brown has been on her own path of restoration. She’s expressed remorse and consistently demonstrated good behavior while in prison. She earned an associate’s degree. She’s helped counsel other inmates. Still, unless Gov. Haslam acts, she is set to spend another four decades or more in prison for crimes she committed as an abused and exploited child.
Brown’s case has attracted attention from celebrities such as LeBron James, Ashley Judd, Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna. Their social media support has helped to raise the profile of Brown’s case in the national media and propel the push for clemency.
Brown’s supporters sometimes gloss over her actions that day in Allen’s home. She did kill a man.
With that said, however, the duty to pursue justice should lead the governor to free Brown, who has already spent nearly half of her life in prison.
Mitigating circumstances matter. Brown was an abused, neglected and exploited child when she killed.
Abuse and exploitation do not excuse her actions. But they should mitigate the length of her sentence.
Gov. Haslam should allow Brown to walk out of prison a free woman.
Tim Swarens is a columnist at The Indianapolis Star.