Monday, February 28, 2011
Hargrove Saturday's Cyntoia Brown Panel: Me Facing Life ... And a Couple of Oddball Questions
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 1:47 PM
Before Ellenette Washington mounted the auditorium stage at the downtown Nashville Public Library on Saturday, Pith was bracing for hostile, pointed questions during the Q&A following the Independent Lens screening of Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story (airing tomorrow night nationally and on Nashville Public Television) — the story of a 16-year-old prostitute convicted of a 2004 murder in Nashville and sentenced to life in prison. Through Dan Birman's lens, they'd just peered into the face of a girl in pigtails — Ellenette's adopted daughter — whose short, often brutal life would stand for an adult accounting in a justice system currently with no other option.
If there was any doubt about the divisive nature of the film, it was dashed when the audience had to be admonished beforehand by moderator Jonathan Martin of WSMV to keep questions respectful. Check the comments section of this week's Scene cover story, "Life Begins at Sixteen." You'll find comments ranging from hellfire and eye-for-an-eye retribution to public-safety justifications for her life-long incarceration. Yet it's a story that may raise more questions than it answers about the questionable circumstances surrounding Cyntoia's presence in the home of a 43-year-old man who was naked when police found his body.
Far from being overtly hostile, though, some of the questions were simply off-the-wall, rendering speechless the panel consisting of Washington, Vanderbilt forensic psychologist William Bernet, Cyntoia's former juvenile attorney Kathy Evans, and victim's rights advocate Jyl Shaffer. The strangest came from a woman sitting behind Pith, who launched into a rambling soliloquy on the parallels between life sentences for juveniles and pedophilia, prison rapes perpetrated by guards and the lawsuits that could subsequently be filed. This way, she assured Washington, Cyntoia could regain her freedom. Upon finishing, she promptly stood up and left the auditorium. There was something almost transcendently nonsensical about the monologue. Performance art?
On a more serious note, perhaps the most piercing observation made during the discussion went something like this: Aside from the hearbreaking and sordid details of Cyntoia's case, there is nothing particularly uncommon about it. There was none of the spectacular bungling and dishonesty found in Gaile Owens' trial, for example. Merits of the process aside, the criminal justice system functioned exactly how it is currently designed to work. Juveniles accused of exceptionally violent crimes are tried as adults. Those convicted of first-degree murder get life sentences.
Ignoring the questionable conclusion of premeditation by the jury, the problem, Dr. Bernet posited, is the fact that teenagers develop. They grow. And if Cyntoia Brown had one friend in the audience Saturday who could attest to that — without getting shouted down by the lock-her-up-for-life crowd — it would have been Preston Shipp. The former assistant attorney general was sitting near the front. He personally argued against her case before the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2008. Theirs is a remarkable story detailed in the Scene piece linked above.
If you couldn't make it to the screening, check out the film on NPT-Channel 8 at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Comments (35)
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I disagree. I think she's quite the skilled con artist & behind bars for murder is where she needs to be. I dare anyone whom thinks otherwise to allow this psycho to live with them in their home with their children (if any).
She's speaking real words when she talks about being attractive and feeling that burden of others seeing just your looks, cutting her hair and trying appear less appealing in order to feel like a person. She's also on point with her expression that others in her life were selfish and only cared about self and what she could do to make them feel accepted or admired.
Dear Mr. Hargrove:
Even your very brief comments here are marred by the same intellectual inconsistency and lack of depth that marred your longer articles.
You just don't get it. You relentlessly attempt to subtly dehumanize the victim ("who was found naked") and anyone who has sympathy for him, while re-humanizing Cyntoia, who, we are assured (by a professional forensic psychologist!!) can "develop."
Cyntoia can lead the most disgusting life imaginable, but now she's redeemed. (You seem to be dismissing the possibility she might reoffend.) On the other hand, audience members in Saturday's discussion, with perhaps their own sad stories to tell, are dismissed as incoherent rubes.
As someone who has worked with incarcerated psychopaths, I can assure you that there are thousands like Cyntoia out there. They all have stories. In fact, for any situation, they'll concoct ten different stories for you.
In view of your terminal lack of imagination in this case, let me try a few for you. First, let me comment that I don't have access to a full forensic report in this case, but if I were investigating, I'd have run careful tests to determine whether the victim had sexual intercourse, and, if so, with whom. DNA testing might have confirmed a sexual encounter with the murderer, which would have established a lie.
Try a few scenarios:
1. Cyntoia acts the cute, desperate teenager. Allen takes her in for the night, then has sex with her and falls asleep, refusing to pay her until morning. Angered, she blows his brains out.
2. Cyntoia acts the cute, desperate teenager. Allen takes her in for the night, has misgivings, and tells her to sleep on the couch. Furious that she isn't going to make her money, she waits until he is asleep, sneaks into the bedroom, and blows his brains out.
3. Cyntoia and Johnny meet and agree to a trick. Back in Johnny's place, Cyntoia notices his valuable gun collection and is also angered by his pushy demeanor. They climb into bed, and, as he settles in, she blows his brains out.
Even a casual observer of "The First 48 Hours" knows that cold blooded murderers like Cyntoia always have stories, and they often involve not-very-subtle and often far-fetched attempts to establish a self-defense motive. Strangely, in all her abusive experiences with "Cut-Throat", Cyntoia apparently never felt threatened enough to blow *his* brains out. Why not?
Mr. Hargrove, I could, literally, go on for hours with hypotheses and questions which, ultimately, would lay bare your pretensions of balance and intellectual depth.
Teenage killers are a growing problem and a persistent menace in our society. Teenage brains may continue to "develop", but turning this rather ambiguous scientific result into a license to kill (or a reduced sentence) is just one more example of shoddy liberal-schtick thinking at work. What about the victim? What about his family?
Let me give you my interpretation. During her interviews, even as she gives away her powerful hatred of men, Cyntoia's eyes gleam with narcissistic delight. She has a con going, and she knows it. Poor Mr. Hargrove. Just like poor Johnny, you never knew what hit you.
Jim, I think the only spot-on thing you said was that you don't have access to the full forensic report. I did, including a full compliment of horrible crime scene photos. You act as though I was inured to her crime and the cost in terms of life. I saw the hole in his head, which is one of the reasons I didn't sugar-coat the crime scene, her admissions or any of her violent outbursts. If I set out to make an angel of her, I didn't succeed.
Mr. Hargrove: I never said you set out to make an "angel" out of her. What I did say, was that your article lacked balance. On the one hand, you provide an extensive analysis of the murderer that went into immense detail about the sordid aspects of her life and the potential for reform that others see in her. On the other hand, you fail to come to grips with various inconsistencies in her story, and shrink the victim into a slightly creepy cipher. The analysis of the victim is incredibly shallow. It seems to be confined
primarily to details that serve no apparent purpose, other than to dehumanize him and make him look slightly strange.
Some of your writing seems to deliberately distorts events. For example, on page 12 of your article you say
"He would discover the things that had been done to her, and why she might think a stark naked 43-year-old man would go for a gun when she refused his advances."
This conjures up the image of a young girl being confronted by a (possibly irate, possibly standing) naked man, when in fact, all the evidence suggests that the victim was asleep or in bed in a non-threatening position when killed. His hands were clasped in a very standard sleeping position, and the supposition in the denial of appeal is that that was the position he was in (not reaching under a bed) at the instant he was killed.
(In a similar way, you truncated the nastier details of what Cyntoia said to the woman who denied her a phone. You know, the stuff about splattering her blood on the wall and listening to the sound. )
So the murderer's version of events makes no sense. Fearing for her life, she blows his brains out (rather than simply putting on her clothes and leaving), and in spite of the horror, calmly collects his guns for a profitable trip to the pawnshop.
So enlighten me, Mr. Hargrove. Just what relevance did the victim's hairpiece, the delightfully specific fact that the fatal bullet dislodged it from his head, or his taste in interior decorating, have to the weighty issues you believe you were discussing?
Did Mr. Allen never do anything nice in his life? Could you find no one to say a nice word about him? Your article featured around 9 photos of Cyntoia, and not one photo of the victim. The effect of the imbalance is to elicit sympathy for her and romanticize the sadness of her enduring predicament while dehumanizing him.
Jim in Nashville...great comments! You are correct in stating that this article tries to dehumanize Mr. Allen. Where is the article about his life? He was a wonderful man. It was standing room only at his memorial service at his church in Donelson. People were asked to stand and tell stories of Johnny...it lasted for almost 2 hours.
There was also another victim of Cyntoia Brown....none of this articles tell the story of how Mr. Allen's father died of a heart attack, only 2 weeks after the murder.
Maybe the author should title his next piece...the story of Mrs. Allen...ME FACING LIFE WITHOUT MY SON OR HUSBAND.
really? how can you people stand yourselves to say a 16 year old should be sentenced to life? why not have restorative justice for teens in tennessee? her brain wasn't fully developed at the time. most of the people on here that are leaving these negative comments about a child (at the time of the crime) probably knew Johnny. and his father dieing has nothing to do with cyntoia killing him. PERIOD. also african american teens are given harsher penalties than white teen (look it up before the arguing). by the way im 15 and work for a group out of the oasis that focuses on stopping youth violence. GOD BLESS AND LEARN TO FORGIVE.!
About the only positive observation regarding the sordid tale this reader can observe is that Cyntoia is in a place now where she can safely be turned into a laboratory specimen. Perhaps some perceptive researchers can make sense out of what an obviously depraved existence has wrought within her psyche, along with the result. And more specifically, the mature psychological outcome following years of festering as her prison years pass. It is an opportunity for some sound social research.
Ted Bundy could also have been researched in a likewise manner. Something turned him into an evil monster. What was it? But since he's been fried, now we'll never know, will we.
I think it's very interesting I'm not the only person who thinks this. A number of criminal profile specialists have expressed the same opinion. Specifically, (if my memory hasn't failed me) one of the original FBI profile researcher/officers expressed this very thing in his best selling book regarding Ted, when he talked about Ted's state directed homicide. And let's face it, when they killed Ted, they set him free, just as they did another prominent product of his environment, Timothy McVeigh. Poof. Gone.
In terms of punishment, it would seem to me that an extended life as a shackled, caged, human laboratory rat would be a whole lot more unpleasant than dying. 'Cause after all, dying is gonna' happen to all of us.
Mr. Hargrove,
I believe you do owe readers an answer regarding Jim's comments and questions about your treatment of the victim in your article. The tone with which you treated him, including the details Jim noted above, was entirely unbalanced -- in what was an otherwise balanced piece. So, any response? Why the hairpiece references? Why the constant suggestion that he _was_ a danger to Ms. Brown (without any shred of evidence to support that claim -- which is a different issue than whether _she_ had some subjective reason to be afraid)? Your de-humanization of Mr. Allen was unnecessary for the article and unworthy of the rest of your work. I'd love to be persuaded otherwise, though...
Bill, it the SCENE-IST way you write those things. No answer will be forthcoming.
"Mr." Allen dehumanized himSELF the moment he offered a child money to have sex with him.
I just finished watching the documentary on my cousin Cyntoia Brown it was heartbreaking seeing how the media has portrayed her, what she did was wrong yes but picking up a 16 yer old minor who yes looked very much a minor to a full grown man in his 40's sounds a bit odd that his friends and family claim he "always picked up runaways" again sounds even weirder we must seriously look at how they even met 43 yr old MAN 16 yr old GIRL also two other fully grown women testified a very different outlook on the "innocent successful man" even filing a police report against him years before he ever met Cyntoia both women experienced alot of sexual aggressiveness so let's not be delusional that the deceased was a perfect "Angel" and not transfer this same aggression over to a small young girl which most older men like and is easily controlled seriously before anything further we must honestly think about this first, who approached whom? and how did she even get into his car? in which the Sonic employee had sworn on the stand he spoke very arrogant and like he was about to get into some "action with woman not merely helping a runaway plus what sort of questions did he ask her that would indicate he was tryna help her for the night I'm sorry this is not back in the 1800's here so let's drop the "helping a runway" nonsense because we all know that was not his true intention, he should not have lost his life behind this but showing a teen runway your gun collection makes the story even more bizarre that defiantly does not sound like someone that was trying to assure her that she was safe for the night at his home . It is sad that he isn't alive with his family today and very sad for my family as well, that a decision made when someone was only 16 should forever deem and destroy their fate he unfortunately was NOT A MINOR in fact almost triple her age. As far as premeditated and con artist??!! firstly if he was "special target" that she monitored and desperately planned to kill him this would have occurred at another location they were strangers to one another up until they met, also what would her motive be to kill him?! who was he? a special target to premeditate and concoct such a crime to. I have lived in NYC my whole life and heard more vicious crimes i just served jury duty in which we deliberated for weeks of a non violent crime her jurors deliberated 6 hours?! I have seen plenty walk away after serving several yrs that really were planned out my cousin did not plan to do this she also came from a very good family not her bio family but the real only family she has ever known which is mine she was highly gifted in education and lived a very short lived rebellious life before the tragedy occurred, should she suffer forever behind bars? forever with no hopes of ever being able to touch her family? she is behind thick glass never to even touch our hands some of you women need to think deep down to how your teenage years were, some were rebels others weren't but none were fully capable and took responsibility of their actions after only living 16yrs on this planet she should not either, time should be served but forever is only a result of a racist country town had she been a innocent little white teen girl defending herself the story would have made a different turn certainly, common laws and bogus non realistic people. God is real he loves her and if any soul had any kind of human compassion would agree forever is unreal.
Pedophilia is wrong i totally agree with you! look at how young she looked early in trial he very well knew this was not a woman on hard times and it is illegal to harbor a runaway especially a CHILD it just makes me wonder how many other illegal activities he engaged in and then suddenly swept under a rug to preserve a "innocent victim" the correct thing for grown man in his 40's almost her grandpa to do was contact the proper teen shelter, female friends, group home, or contact her family which he then would have convinced her to return back home haven't we all seen this on TV, movies, etc as the right thing to do not be stark naked in bed helping a teen runaway right? guess as a real estate agent he didn't have guest bedrooms and assured her sharing a bed with him a grown man naked stranger was safe enough? had he lived and had further contact with her the police would certainly have found that quite odd and my aunt would have taken legal action for her 16yr old minor. Unbelievable how quick and easy people have dismissed this very crucial and very important part of that night let's not be delusional people over the lost it is sad and horrible but to try to fabricated and ignore what his intentions were is unreal and let me guess Cyntoia stripped him naked before doing so yeah right ok innocent man trying to help himself i mean help her out for the night right?
There's a reason why picking up, and having sex with 16 yr old minors is statutory rape. .. This case constitutes one of those reasons.
RE: Pedophiliaiswrong... Pedophilia is a sexual attraction to pre-pubertal children. Not to say that young people shouldn't be protected by the law, but claiming that biological adults are babies serves no purpose other than to pretend that teenagers are unwitting innocents, which they clearly are not. In this example, we have a femme fatale who used her allure to get paid, and to deceive a man who really should've known better.
The story I wrote doesn't take a stand one way or the other on the circumstances of Allen's death. It conveys the version Cyntoia gave during her confession, which I attribute to her, and at the juvenile transfer hearing. I also note the detectives' doubt and the prosecution's theory for balance. Much like a jury, readers will draw their own conclusions. However, I believe her version of the events is as unverifiable as yours, Jim, or any other. We'll never really know.
As for your other comments, this is not a story about a 43-year-old man. It's about the 16-year-old girl who shot him. His funeral may have been standing room only, but let's not kid ourselves. He picked a girl up on the side of the road and took her back to his home. He got in bed naked with her. I can say this with reasonable degree of confidence because he was shot at a close enough range to indicate Cyntoia was in bed with him, according to the forensic evidence. Are we to believe she wanted to be a foot or two away from the man as she shot him in the head? If she was sneaking into his room to kill him, why not stand next to the bed and pull the trigger? The evidence simply doesn't support the shooter's presence in any place other than in the bed with Allen.
A fellow churchgoer testified -- very unwillingly, I might add; she wasn't champing at the bit to get on the stand and smear Allen-- that he raped her. Allen wasn't "pushy" with her, Jim. He forced himself on her. Check out the transcripts and read her testimony. It's heartbreaking stuff. He had a history, as another witness testified, of leering at high school girls and trying to take them out on dates. There's a pattern here. So let's not pretend Allen was an angel, or even a particularly decent person. No one forced him to pick up a girl in a short skirt on the side of Murfreesboro Rd. I'm not interested in a 43-year-old real estate agent, undeserving as his death was. Far more interesting is the 16-year-old runaway who shot him and what we can take from her case about the juvenile justice system, whether we think it works or not. This is clearly a divisive story and people are bound to interpret it differently.
As a writer, am I to leave details of his hair piece and his strange dwelling out of the story out of respect? Does one become sacrosanct when one dies? The circumstances surrounding this encounter don't put Allen in the best light. Telling is the fact that the prosecutor didn't pursue some of the angelic theories about the victim advanced in a couple of newspaper stories and in the comments section of this blog. In fact, it would have been much more persuasive to present Johnny to the jury as a good Samaritan -- to claim that he'd picked her up to put a roof over her head for the night out of the goodness of his own heart. ADA Burks didn't do that, though. The furthest he'd go was to assert that Allen was sleeping. Do you believe for a second that if Burks thought the victim was trying to help Cyntoia, he wouldn't have flogged that horse to death?
She's a prostitute, he's dead. She shot him in the back of the head while he was sleeping. A rattlesnake is a rattlesnake no matter the age or species.
Dear Mr. Hargrove,
I understand how uninterested you are in Mr. Allen, and that the focus of your interest is Cyntoia and her predicament. Given the circumstances, Mr. Allen's potential for future development is quite limited.
First of all, I agree that, on the balance of probabilities, the victim was seeking a sexual encounter with Cyntoia. Certainly his decision to bring Cyntoia to his home was a bad one, and his motives are suspect.
There is absolutely no credible evidence that he was violent toward women, or that Cyntoia was in any danger, or ever thought she was in any danger. There is, in fact, evidence in the trial testimony that she fabricated her story. (See below.)
It is interesting how uncritical you are of the evidence regarding the victim's alleged creepiness. The defense drudges up one unhappy past date who describes a bad encounter where he (allegedly) "forced" himself on her. This may, quite simply, be a he-said she-said account from a disappointed person who had sex on the first date. Given the astonishingly large percentage (as many as 30% in some studies) of false reports of rape made to police, I am surprised you take at face value a much milder accusation. Surely you are aware of numerous cases on campuses where feminist
causes were supported by out-of-the-blue corroborating "victims" who later were found to be completely fraudulent.
As for the testimony of one waitress on the cusp of 18, the judge ruled it of no value.
Clearly, we differ on the value of that evidence. But I don't discount the possibility that Mr. Allen was not a nice man.
Now let me repeat my previous assertion, which you feel compelled to ignore. There is no evidence the victim was dangerous. There is substantial evidence (which you seem to ignore in your story) that the murderer lied. In fact, Shayla Bryant testified that Cyntoia told *her* that she fabricated the story about being frightened and reaching for a gun. And, Shayla Bryant testified that Cyntoia also told her she killed the victim "for the fun of it." This is, of course, jailhouse testimony, but a note from Cyntoia was produced.
I find no mention of Shayla Bryant in your story. Why not?
In order to discount the inconvenient fact that the victim was sleeping when killed, you expend a lot of energy suggesting that someone with his brains blown out may have moved . Uh huh. So, the victim was reaching under the bed, she blows his brains out, and he just happens to end up in a classic sleeping position. The balance of probabilities are seriously against you there, Mr. Hargrove.
As for your latest comments about whether they were in bed together -- I never denied the possibility the victim and murderer were in bed. However, there are countless *reasonable* scenarios that place the murderer is a far less positive light than you do, with your relentless concentration on her alleged potential and her charm. You argue that she wouldn't have wanted to get too close. That assumes that the murder was not a thrill-killing, which it may have been. Maybe at that moment, thinking her age made her immune from a long sentence, Cyntoia decided to experience the thrill of blowing the victim away. Certainly a cathartic moment of the highest caliber, given her sad treatment at the hands of men.
For me, a telling moment in the PBS documentary was the picture of the victim's driver's license. Unlike your portrayal of him as a sad creep, he was a reasonably attractive man in the prime of life -- almost anyone seeing his picture would describe him as substantially more attractive than Cyntoia, whose attractiveness has been seriously over-romanticized in your article.
Cyntoia had sex with 36 different people before killing the victim. She was not an innocent. She was a hardened street veteran with a definite mean streak and very limited impulse control. She had a documented history of violence, he had none.
Watch again the moment in the PBS documentary when Cyntoia was being cuffed, and demanded a more comfortable set of cuffs. Notice how easily she manipulates the situation when the guard tries to rebuff her. She's fully capable of being assertive.
So, which is it --- a frightened teen who made a tragic bad choice, or a nasty little teen on a coke bender who thought killing someone might be cool? Maybe a little of both.
I lean toward the latter, and I'm glad the prosecutor chose to protect the public. You have made a very compelling case for the former.
Mr. Hargrove, you are a talented, interesting writer. I wish you'd do a little more research into teen recidivism rates and the nature of psychopathy. You'd discover there are plenty of smart, charming people like Cyntoia who'd kill you in a heartbeat if you happened to rub them the wrong way. Cyntoia's potential (which, frankly, I think is serously overrated) may have to be sacrificed for the good of public safety.
Clearly, sir, my problem with your article is its imbalance. As Cyntoia put it, Mr. Allen got "executed." Think about that the next time you're writing a sympathy piece for someone on death row.
Whether Cyntoia is credible, sympathetic, attractive, brilliant or even blameless seems to me entirely beside the point. For that matter, while Johnny Allen’s murder was heinous and tragic for his family, it is also, ultimately, of little consequence when juxtaposed with the much more serious systemic failures that ultimately led to his death.
This case illustrates how the US, and the American south in particular, lacks the kind of robust mechanisms that might halt the downward spiral of lost children like Cyntoia and before her, her mother.
The film, and Brantley’s story (which was superb), illustrates how Cyntoia’s birth mother took her child along while scoring dope and turning tricks, drinking all the liquor she could find along the way. This woman, the film implies, was herself a product of her mother being raped. How did we let this happen? What could we possibly expect children raised in such an environment to become?
And when people like Cyntoia and her mother—who is now doing a nine-year stretch for trafficking— fail to rise above these hideous circumstances, the only remedy we can offer them is a cell.
I’m not suggesting that we “coddle criminals” or whatever it is that American social warriors accuse people of. I’m not some tweedy academic apologizing for Cyntoia’s behavior, or bleating that “she’s just misunderstood.” She killed a man and could very well be a talented liar.
But given her circumstances, the fact that Cyntoia committed murder is completely unsurprising. We should examine those circumstances, not so that we can all take pity on her, but so that we can create systems that will result in fewer murder victims and shorter welfare lines.
The deck was stacked against Cyntoia before she drew her first breath. Because of that, Johnny Allen drew his last with a gaping wound in that back of his head.
wow-----pets are raised better than that---why was there no psychological attention given to this baby early on?....the birthmother's lifestyle was cearly visible.did the adoptive mother know any better?.She seemed clueless on the stand..the child should have been watched closly as all little girls shoul.She needed special help--clearly and the so called system failed.So sad the life of a child being born into that situation...she said herself, she made it out of dangerous situations by the skin of her teeth allof her life--but not really.
@P.J.T.:
I agree that we have a problem with individuals who get pregnant (or impregnate), have children, and are in fact neither intellectually nor emotionally capable of raising them, and that this problem needs attention. Cyntoia was the fetal-crack-plus-alcohol product of parents who themselves were very damaged individuals.
Your assertion that her committing murder is "completely unsurprising" is a gross overstatement, and probably not precisely what you meant to say. Clearly the probability is relatively much higher for someone like Cyntoia, and I am less surprised that she committed murder than, say, some Vanderbilt honor student, but murder is a very low probability event, even in the class of individuals with her background. If her committing murder is actually "completely unsurprising," society should indeed have locked her up (or strongly interceded) very early in her life.
I would suggest that, given the increasing scarcity of financial resources in our society, that rather than offering tax and welfare incentives to mentally and financially incompetent individuals when they have children, we should consider reverse incentives. Pay them not to have children, and penalize them if they have more than one. This would be vastly more efficient than gross expansion of a social safety network that has already proven itself corrupt and inefficient.
After reading some comments, I am utterly convinced our justice system is a failure in dealing with children, because we are failures in dealing with children. Terrible crimes are imcomprehensible to most people and they don't like to think about them. The easiest solution is to destroy the perpetrator, get rid of it, lock it away so we won't have to think about the crime and its causes. Do you recall Kris Kringle's comment to the young janitor in "Miracle on 34th Street" after learning he was seventeen and made to feel guilty by a meddling charlatan psychologist?" "Seventeen. Doesn't seem to me you've had time to be guilty of much of anything." That's how the public saw young people in those days. What has happened?
I'm a conservative, very conservative. I believe in justice. I also believe in mercy. Furthermore, I believe in responsibility. I believe society's adults refuse to accept responsibility for the actions of violent young people. They are not adults. Their actions are caused by our failures. I don't mean parents. They may share in the responsibility, but, in fact, I'm talking about our politicians, whom we are responsible to elect, the entertainment industry, which we shape by our purchasing choices, our own behavioral examples, every adult, in seeking pleasure through drugs, alcohol, gambling, all vices. Can you at all comprehend the horrendous effect this has on an eleven year old? A thirteen, or sixteen year old? Wake up and smell the roses!
Cyntoia is a product of our failed adult behavior. Yes, she bears responsibility for her actions and, no, I wouldn't want her to live in my home. Yet, I am appalled at our societal willingness to throw her away. Get rid of her. Lock her up so we don't have to consider her terrible crime. There must be a better way to deal with such children. She can, and should have a life outside a prison. She can and should pay a price for her actions. She can and should be helped, not merely punished.
Usually, I believe in deterrent, but not in the case of a sixteen year old under the circumstances in which Cyntoia committed her crime. She didn't think about consequences, because children that age do not and cannot understand consequences like adults do. They lack the brain development and the experience required to understand actions and consequences.
I could go on for a very long time about this disturbing story, especially since I recently saw another report about a very young woman, nineteen, who committed a similarly terrible crime and was sentenced to 27 years in a Florida prison. I just don't think locking them up for many years is any kind of solution, much less is it an adult response, an adult approach to such crimes. These are ostrich approaches. You know, head in the sand. If I can't see it, it isn't there. A lot of adult drivers display this approach to life. We need to stop it. Face the truth and accept our responsibility, our role in such sordid, grievous sides of life and do something adult about them. "An eye for an eye" is not the approach Christ would suggest, I'm certain. His mantra was mercy. I think that is much more a propos in dealing with children.
Now, a brief word about the victim. No, he did not deserve to be murdered. He deserved life, just as we all do. Nevertheless, he was an adult. A forty-three year old adult! He certainly understood Cyntoia was not an adult, yet, he took her to his house for the express purpose of paying for sex from her. That, my friends, is ghastly! It's at least as ghastly as her murder of him. It does not justify her actions, but it should, in my view, somehow mitigate our disposal of Cyntoia. She was a child. Adults are supposed to protect and nurture children. All adults are responsible to do this, but the murder victim chose to exploit her in a most foul manner. He certainly should have been in prison for such behavior, yet, he was free to exploit Cyntoia. I cannot get past that! If Cyntoia is guilty of a "thrill" murder, this man was guilty of inciting it by seeking thrills. He sickens me. I can't lay the same degree of responsibility at Cyntoia's feet as I can this awful man. He, like many people in Cyntoia's life, sent a message that life is cheap and dirty. How could Cyntoia believe killing him was any different than selling sex to him. He could get her cheap and she could get him cheap. Can't you understand that problem? Again, it does not justify the murder, but I believe it should mitigate our response. Cyntoia was and still is a child. A child for heaven's sake! A child caught up in an adult world, an evil adult world. An end to that evil must begin somewhere and I believe it should begin with how we deal with such exploited and damaged children. My Dad once referred to these lives as the wreckage of humanity. He meant we, adults, are all responsible. Help them, don't simply satisfy ourselves by demanding justice through severe punishment and hiding away the consequences of our own culpability.
@ Jim,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I absolutely believe that, as you say, society should have "strongly interceded" in Cyntoia's life long ago. If we had, then Johnny Allen might not be dead today. I don't know whether reverse-incentives or a strengthened social safety net is the way to go, and in truth, there is little political will at this moment for either alternative.
As for my statement that Cyntoia committing murder was "completely unsurprising," I stand by it. More than a third of abused girls end up in jail, many after committing violence against their abusers or those who summon the specter of that abuse.
I am almost certainly jaded-- having seen more than my share of this kind of thing in the US and elsewhere--but tell me that a poorly educated runaway with a family history of rape and neglect ended up killing a guy who picked her up on Murfreesboro Pk while she was in the midst of a week-long coke bender, and I will shrug, asking, "What did you expect?"
To any sympathizer: Unless you're willing to take Centoia into your home if she's released all your gnashing of teeth on her behalf is pure hypocrisy. If she get's out because of your efforts someone has to deal with her, and it is totally unfair to assign that responsibility to anyone but yourself. But if you do decide to take her, or someone like her, into your home, how about giving the neighbors a heads-up. It would be the right thing to do. And two things to remember: 1) She shot a guy in the back of the head while he was sleeping; 2) Prisons were built to protect your brothers and sisters from people like Cyntoia.
To Jim In Nashville: The only thing you've said that seems credible is "I could, literally, go on for hours with hypotheses and questions".
Yes, I believe you can and do.
The article and the film simply raise the question whether or not it is fair, prudent or just to hold children to the same standards as adults and by *presuming* that rehabilitation is impossible. Neither the article nor the film were about Johnny Allen or whether or not he was virtuous or sinister. There could never be justification for what happened to him and neither Brantley Hargrove nor Dan Birman (the film's director) attempted to do either.
It seems the axe you grind renders you prisoner of your own grievances and incapable of entertaining information outside your entrenched position of judgment. Often the root of righteous anger is some invisible woundedness that renders one incapable of reading words on a page without imposing our own biases. In this case, the very bias you accuse Mr. Hargrove of possessing. Yeah, this seems to be one of the 'you spot it you got it' situations.
@ellenmary,
Simply to deliver a cheap ad hominem, you certainly go on at considerable length yourself.
I documented, clearly and extensively, that Mr. Hargrove indeed was weaving a subtle bias against the victim. Others can see it, and if you can't, perhaps you should examine your own grinding axes.
@P.J.T.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. The problem is indeed staggering, and I wish I had a confident take on a solution. I don't.
Can someone please tell me why her adopted mother never contacted the police and reported Cyntoia as a runaway. From the ducumentary Cyntoia was on the streets with Cut Throat for at least three weeks. I know for a fact the adopted mother never contacted the police and reported her as a runaway.
I can't believe how people can overlook the fact that she was only 16! What was a 43yr old man doing picking her up?! She was a victim of statutory rape and although she did killed him do u think sending her to prison for life is really justice! If that was my daughter; or what if it was yours, wouldn't u agree then that he got what he deserved?!!! Im not saying that the man or anyone else deserves death but I'm just being realistic.I think her life of sexual and mental abuse are reasons enough to come to the decision that enough is enough!I think that the time served to date is more than enough for what she's had to endure and should be allowed to be free and given a second chance to life! I also feel she should continue to receive some type of counseling & help from the system who failed her so terribly before!
As for the individual who stated about taking her in and notifying your neighbors, I would take her in& I think that no one should really be afraid to do so because it's not as though she was going around targeting individuals to murder she was a victim as well! Another key thing you are forgetting Johnny WAS an ADULT of 43yrs of age who should have had more than enough time to learn about making right choices! Cyntoia on the other hand was still a child who was still naive and incapable of making the right choices not just because of her youth but because she was manipulated and ill treated by those who she would try to trust! Living the life she did without even mentioning the mental illness, is enough to put a person on edge & have their survival instincts take over!! I think the system failed her as a child who needed help& intervention& I think the system failed her again with the sentenced given!!!
Icare, you seem to not understand one cannot rehab a psychopath. This girl has a warped mind that no amount of psycho babble will cure or make right. All she cares about is having a party to have & some street thug to "care" about her. I would no more trust her than I would a pit bull that's got rabies. IOW, never turn my back on her & certainly never let her out amongst the public.
Yes, she had a shitty upbringing. Life sucks sometimes & hers certainly did. But at 16 she damn well knew what murder is & she no doubt wanted to live the thug rapper lifestyle of the trash she listened to. Looks like she got her wish. Hope she likes the sex with the women now. No doubt they're gonna love her in adult prison.
Wow...another Rorsarch test! I'm familiar with some of these posters from other issues, and their hardass attitude is no surprise....fear peddlers who are scaredycats themselves, all too happy to ignore the plentiful research that demonstrates that 16 year olds are emphatically NOT adults, especially when it comes to making life-or-death choices. That's why, as I said in the commentary on the article itself, the only thing worse for the Church of Christ Youth Minister (!!!) who brought her home would have been getting caught alive with her. And, again, I have to wonder what the justice system would have done with a white 16-year old, especially a wealthier one, who put a bullet through the head of a naked 43-year old Church of Christ youth minister while they were alone in his apartment late at night--especially if the CoCYM happened to be black.
I feel like you are all forgetting the fct that she killed this man in cold blood without a motive. Her motivation was money and drugs? It does not matter the age of the man the fact still remains she killed him as he was sleeping with his back to her. And Garion (Cut Throat) is my BROTHER and I do not appreciate the Nashville Scene or NPT cheannel 8 running this story using his name in vain. He did NOT have Ms. Brown prostituting on the street for 3 weeks, he had not even known the child for 3 weeks. I do not agree with his name being brought up in her case because A) He is no longer here with us to defend his name B)Ms. Brown killed this man when they were alone in the house so he was not present and C) He is not a charge partner or co-defendent with her in this case so his name should not have been mentioned. if The Nashville Scene wanted to name names they should have named the 100's of other men she tricked off with because she was a teen run-a-away who sold her body. I feel it would only be fair to NEVER mention my brother's name EVER again in connection with Ms. Brown or her case.
A million rules in society, but these two should have at least remembered to not be a pedophile and to not commit murder. Sad all around.
She was 15yrs of age when this man offered her 150 dollars to go to his house shouldnt alarm bells ring at this when a 40 yr old man offers a child to come to his house if so concerned should have reported to police as she was a minor
