The Cyntoia Brown case was one of the most controversial cases that took place over a decade ago, and it still attracts controversy after she received clemency, which significantly reduced her jail term. Brown was sentenced to 51 years in prison after she was convicted of killing her sex client, Mitchell Allen. Her story demonstrates some of the challenges that young girls are facing, especially when they are abandoned by their parents and can hardly meet their basic needs (Garcia, 2018). Brown went through a lot of challenges in her childhood that influenced her behaviors significantly.
According to available information about Brown, she was born on 29 January 1988 in Tennessee. Her official name is Cyntoia Denise Brown, and she was an American Citizen. Brown was adopted by Thomas Brown and Ellenette who took care of her when she was still young. Nevertheless, Brown abandoned school and ran away from home when she was still 16-year-old, and she started street life in Nashville where she met a young man by the name Garion Jarvis who was popularly known as “Kut=Throat” (Garcia, 2018). It was Jarvis who recruited and introduced brown to the sex trade. Jarvis also subjected Brown to sex trafficking, which became her way or earning a living, as she was able to make money and support herself, including Jarvis. While being interrogated by the police, Brown told criminal investigators that she was repeatedly raped and subjected to physical abuse by Jarvis. Besides, Jarvis subjected her to a lot of psychological torture that made Brown accept her way of life, especially as a prostitute (Garcia, 2018). Therefore, Brown’s personal life was characterized by a lot of challenges and difficulties right from the time she was born in 1988.
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The information about Brown’s family is scanty because she rarely stayed with her parents. Even though the name of her father is not known, her mother was called Georgiana Mitchell ( Liam, 2019) . Brown's mother was alcoholic by the time she was her pregnancy. Brown was born from a low-income family that could hardly take care of its basic needs, mainly because her mother was a drug addict. As a result, she was not able to take care of her daughter, forcing her to place Brown for adoption at an infant age. Brown was finally adopted by Thomas Brown and Ellenette who took care of her when she was still young. Thus, Brown spent 16 years staying with her adopted parents, Thomas Brown and Ellenette, who took who enrolled her in school before she ran away from home ( Liam, 2019) .
Even though Brown participated in sex-trade, which is largely illegal in the USA, her major criminal life can be traced to 2004 when she killed Allen who was her sex client. Allen, A real estate broker, agreed to pay Brown $150 for sex and they went to a drive-in restaurant where they ordered some food ( Liam, 2019) . However, Brown shot Allen while he was asleep and he took his money and two handguns. Brown also used Allen’s car to drive away after the murder. Brown claimed that she shot Allen in self-defense after he tried to shoot her. However, the investigators concluded that Allen was asleep by the time he was shot, mainly based on the position of her body when the police found him. Brown was found guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to 51-year life imprisonment. She was jailed at Tennessee Prison for Women.
Currently, Brown is waiting for her 15 th year in prison before she is officially released from prison. Brown successfully applies for clemency and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam officially communicated that her prison jail term had been reduced from 51 years to 15 years. Brown is supposed to be released from prison on 7 January 2019, and she is expected to serve another ten years under supervised parole (Renkl, 2019). While communicating Brown's clemency decision, the governor stated that she was subjected to harsh judgment, primarily based on the fact that she was a juvenile when she committed murder. Thus, the decision to offer clemency decision was made after the governor considered Brown’s complex and tragic case ( Parker, 2017) . Brown is waiting to be released from prison.
I think that Brown's case was complicated because it was not easy to get the facts and what happened on the day murder. Brown's assertion that she shot Allen in self-defense could not easily be authenticated. Besides, the argument that Allen was shot while asleep could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt. At the same time, the court was harsh when delivery the judgment on the case, as it did not consider that Brown was a juvenile and it was insensitive to some of the challenges that she went through as a child. Brown’s past could have influenced her anti-social behavior, which pushed her to commit murder. Therefore, I believe it is essential for the judges to have a holistic a view of the case that they hand, particularly when handling issues that affect vulnerable people like brown. Brown deserved clemency because her conviction was harsh.
References
Garcia, J. (2018, December 11). A timeline of the Cyntoia Brown case, conviction and successful bid for clemency. Tennessean . Retrieved from https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/12/11/cyntoia-brown-case-facts-story- timeline-2018/2276009002/
Liam, K. (2019, January 8). Cyntoia Brown Biography. Gossip Gist. Retrieved from https://gossipgist.com/cyntoia-brown
Parker, N. (2017, November 25). Here's why people are talking about Cyntoia Brown 13 years after she was sentenced to life in prison for murder. AJC. Retrieved from https://www.ajc.com/news/world/here-why-people-are-talking-about-cyntoia-brown- years-after-she-was-sentenced-life-prison-for-murder/EqX2COsOoVQw329pyr3l3H/
Renkl, M. (2019, January 14). An Act of Mercy in Tennesse. The New York Times . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/opinion/cyntoia-brown-mercy.html
