Cyntoia Brown’s Story
In 2004, in Nashville, a sixteen-year-old named Cyntoia committed an awful act amidst horrific circumstances. She was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, where she will remain until she’s 69. This is Cyntoia’s story and how it’s sparking a new debate about youth and life sentences.
Cyntoia Brown’s story has gained national attention in recent years and I became aware of it through the Undisclosed podcast and the blog of one of Undisclosed’s hosts, Colin Miller.
Her story is tragic and complex, as most sad stories tend to be. Cyntoia ran away from home at age 15 and soon began living in hotels with a 24-year-old man who she says sexually assaulted her, sometimes at gunpoint, and raped her repeatedly.
The man, an aspiring pimp, told Cyntoia she needed to make some money and she was picked up for sex by a 43-year-old real estate agent named Johnny Allen who took her back to his home. That night, Cyntoia shot and killed Allen. She does not deny the murder — she used a gun from her own purse. She was scared, fearing she could be shot herself by Allen, who had several guns in the home.
She was sixteen.
Cyntoia then left Allen’s home with his wallet, guns and his car and was soon arrested. At trial, prosecutors argued that since Allen was asleep at the time, which is supported by the evidence, the murder was pre-meditated for the purpose of robbing him. The prosecutors showed the gruesome photographs of Allen’s body and the Tennessee jury convicted Cyntoia of first degree murder.
Today, Cyntoia is 30 and serving a life sentence at the Tennessee Prison for Women.
She’ll be eligible for parole when she’s 69.
Consider that while the average life expectancy in the United States is 78.7 years, youth who serve life sentences have a life expectancy of just 50.6 years.
Today I was in a courtroom for the second time in my life. The first was more than a decade ago when I stood before a judge and explained how regretful I was for driving too fast on the highway.
I attended oral arguments in federal appeals court at the Potter Stewart United States Courthouse in Cincinnati, not far from where I live. I was there to watch the attorney representing Cyntoia Brown speak for fifteen minutes in front of three judges — Gibbons, Thapar and Larsen. Cyntoia was not in attendance.
At the heart of the hearing was an important question about how we treat children in our country who commit crimes, especially those like Cyntoia who were previously victims themselves.
Mr. Allen’s death at the hands of a sixteen year old is a terrible tragedy no matter the circumstances. However, to take another life — especially that of a child — seems like a barbaric way to reconcile the situation.
There wasn’t much said about Cyntoia or Mr. Allen today in the courtroom. Instead, the attorneys mostly talked about the nuances of the verbiage of previous court cases and whether this means this or that or something different. As an untrained observer of the justice system over the last few years it seems the purpose of these types of proceedings is mostly to find legal loopholes and exploit or deny them depending on which side you’re on.
It’s all quite theatrical really. Sort of a mixture of theater and church.
I dressed up in a sweater and dress shoes — a change for a guy like me, a graphic designer, who normally wears a t-shirt and sneakers to work — and sat in a pew, silently and respectfully, while people of authority in long robes doled out opinions.
The room, one of a couple of historical courtrooms in the building, was beautiful. You know that feeling when you’re in an old church and the reverence of the place just makes you want to sit up straight?
The walls were lined with intricate wood paneling original to the eighty-year old building. Paintings of old men and women, celebrities in this corner of the world, decorated the room.
The ceiling in the two-story space was an architectural delight, featuring a series of panels lit from above to mimic natural sunlight, and I couldn’t help but think of Cyntoia and what kind of room she was in while men in suits argued about her fate to the men and women in long black robes.
Update, January 8, 2019: While the federal appeals court did not rule in her favor, Cyntoia Brown was granted clemency by Republican Governor Bill Haslam. She will be released on August 7, 2019 after serving 15 years in prison. In a statement, Gov. Haslam explained his decision:
“Cyntoia Brown committed, by her own admission, a horrific crime at the age of 16. Yet, imposing a life sentence on a juvenile that would require her to serve at least 51 years before even being eligible for parole consideration is too harsh, especially in light of the extraordinary steps Ms. Brown has taken to rebuild her life. Transformation should be accompanied by hope.”
