Celebs Show Support For Girl Given Life In Jail After Being Forced Into Sex Slavery
It is a forgone conclusion that our justice system is broken and at times corrupt.
A case that is a few years old has gone viral after being shared by Rihanna and Kim Kardashian. This is the story about Cyntoia Brown...
Cyntoia Brown said she was afraid of 43-year-old real estate agent Johnny Allen. She said Allen, who had paid to have sex with her and brought her to a house full of guns, was acting strangely before she shot and killed him in 2004 in Nashville, according to the Associated Press. Brown had run away from home and met a young man nicknamed Kutthroat, the AP reported. She said he forced her into drugs and prostitution.
Brown’s case has recently been highlighted in an investigation by Fox 17 News in Nashville and has garnered national attention as a result, along with a trending hashtag, #FreeCyntoiaBrown. The now 29-year-old is being called a sex trafficking victim and many say that with changes in the way cases such as hers are prosecuted today, she would not have been sentenced to life behind bars.
Filmmaker Dan Birman, who created a documentary in 2011 about case, said in a November 16 interview with Fox 17, “She was picked up by a 43 year old man. Cyntoia was 16 years old.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Kim Kardashian West tweeted about Cyntoia Brown’s case on Tuesday to her more than 57 million followers and asked for her case to be reviewed. The reality television star also said she has reached out to her personal attorneys to see if they can help get her a new trial.
“The system has failed,” she tweeted. “It’s heart breaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what’s right. I’ve called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this. #FreeCyntoiaBrown”
Her tweet has been retweeted more than 54,000 times and liked more than 136,000 times on Twitter. Other celebrities have also joined the effort, including Rihanna.
She wrote on Instagram, “did we somehow change the definition of #JUSTICE along the way?? cause….. Something is horribly wrong when the system enables these rapists and the victim is thrown away for life! To each of you responsible for this child’s sentence I hope to God you don’t have children, because this could be your daughter being punished for punishing already!”
A petition on MoveOn.org has been set up to help bring attention to Cyntoia Brown’s case. So far, more than 100,000 signatures have been collected. The petition asks for “mercy and compassion.”
Cyntoia Brown was living with a man she said forced her into prostitution. His nickname was Cut-throat and in August 2004 he told her to go out and make some money, AP reports. Johnny Mitchell Allen picked her up on the street, bought her some food and asked her to go back to his house.
Here is what happened that day, according to the Associated Press:
He drove her back to his house where his strange behavior frightened her and made her want to escape. When she couldn’t sneak away, she said she wanted to nap. He lay down with her but didn’t fall asleep. He kept getting up and standing over her. She became more panicked, convinced something was going to happen to her. Finally, she shrugged off his advances and, as he rolled over, she took a gun from her purse and shot him once in the head.She testified, “He was a sharp shooter in the Army. I’m sitting here thinking if he does something, what am I going to do?” according to Fox 17 Nashville.Brown admitted that she shot and killed Allen. But she said she was used to being beaten, choked and having a gun pointed at her, and that affected her judgement. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Her case brought attention to child sex and prostitution. In 2011, Tennessee laws were changed to prohibit anyone 18 or younger to be charged with prostitution.
“She was being sex trafficked. The pimp’s name was Kutthroat,” Kathryn Sinback, Davidson County Juvenile Court Administrator told Fox 17.
“She did kill someone, she deeply regrets it, but she was a child and she was being exploited,” Derri Smith, the Founder of End Slavery TN, told Fox 17.”[There’s] no such thing as a child prostitute or a teen prostitute, I think we’ve had to have a cultural mind shift.”
Brown has appealed the verdict, but so far those appeals have been unsuccessful. -(Stephanie Gaskell, Heavy)
With all of the attention this has gathered, I think she will get a new trial sometime soon.