Cyntoia Brown | |
|---|---|
 Brown in 2019 | |
| Born | Cyntoia Denise Brown January 29, 1988 Fort Campbell, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Other names | Cyntoia Brown Long |
| Alma mater | Lipscomb University |
| Occupations |
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| Employer(s) | Ambassador Speakers Bureau, Atria Books |
| Organization(s) | The Foundation For Justice, Mercy, and Freedom (The JFAM Foundation) |
| Known for | Sentenced to life in prison at age 16 for murder; later granted clemency by Gov. Bill Haslam |
| Notable work | Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System |
| Spouse | |
| Website | cyntoiabrown |
Cyntoia Brown Long (née Brown; born January 29, 1988) is an American author and speaker who was convicted of robbing and murdering the person who bought her from sex trafficking. Brown, who was a victim of child sex trafficking at the time of the incident in 2004, claimed that Johnny Allen had paid her $150 to have sex with him, and that she feared for her life during their encounter, leading her to shoot him. Prosecutors argued that Brown killed Allen while he was sleeping. Brown was found guilty of robbing and murdering Allen and was sentenced to life imprisonment at 16.
She would have been eligible for parole at the age of 67. After renewed interest in her case in 2013, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam commuted her original sentence to 15 years and Brown was released on August 7, 2019.[1] Her story is detailed in the 2011 documentary Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story and in her memoir, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System. Her fight for freedom from prison is documented in the Netflix special Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020).
- ^ Hauser, Christine (August 7, 2019). "Cyntoia Brown Is Freed From Prison in Tennessee". The New York Times.