On August 7, Brown had a neighbor drive her to the Wal-Mart where she left Allen's truck. She asked the neighbor to drive her back to Allen's house so that she could steal more items but he refused. Brown told him that she “shot somebody in the head for fifty thousand dollars and some guns”and that she "shot somebody in the head last night and blew his brains out.” She also told her neighbor that the killing was a “fat lick” (robbery) and that she had been “waiting on a lick like that all week.”After the neighbor told his roommate about the incident Brown called him on the phone and threatened him, saying “you better stop running your fucking mouth about my business or I’ll get to you too.”The neighbors later called police,though they feared retaliation from Brown and McGlothen.
Cyntoia Brown, a woman serving a life sentence for killing a man when she was 16, appeared during her clemency hearing in May 2018. Brown and her supporters for years have maintained that the 2004 killing was an act of self-defense.
Cyntoia Brown, who served 15 years of a life sentence for killing a man when she was 16, has been released from a Nashville prison, Tennessee officials announced early Wednesday.
Earlier this year, then-Gov. Bill Haslam took the unusual step of granting Brown clemency for what he called a "tragic and complex case," a major victory for Brown and her supporters, who for years have maintained that the 2004 killing was an act of self-defense.
Over the years, the fight for Brown's release has brought prominent lawyers to her defense, a PBS documentary and backing from celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna. Her case also inspired the introduction of state legislation aimed at protecting minors who are victims of sex trafficking.
In 2006, Brown was convicted of aggravated robbery and first-degree murder for killing 43-year-old real estate agent Johnny Allen, whom she went home with after he picked her up for sex at a Sonic Drive-In in Nashville.
She told police that she pulled a pistol out of her purse and fatally shot Allen because she thought he was reaching for a gun.
She then fled with Allen's guns and money. She drove away in his pickup truck.
Prosecutors claimed that Brown shot Allen as part of a plan to rob him, but Brown told police she was acting to protect herself. She was convicted and sentenced to life in prison over the killing.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled thatmandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders are not constitutional, but Tennessee prosecutors successfully argued that Brown would technically become eligible for parole after 51 years, in 2055.
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