Lawyers File Clemency Application for Cyntoia Brown

Lawyers working on behalf of Cyntoia Brown have officially filed an application seeking clemency from Gov. Bill Haslam for the Nashville woman who has been locked up since 2004 and won't be eligible for parole for nearly 40 years.

Among the dozens of people who have written letters asking the governor to grant her release are Mayor Megan Barry, Thistle Farms founder the Rev. Becca Stevens, Davidson County Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway and Republican state Rep. Jeremy Faison. More than 470,000 people worldwide have signed a petition calling for her release.

Brown was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2004 for shooting and killing a 43-year-old man who had hired her for sex. She claimed self-defense. At the time, Brown was just 16, and she'd been living with a man who, she later said, had abused her and put her out on the street as a prostitute for drug money. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after she served 51 years. When that date comes, she'll be 67 years old. 

Brown's case was the subject of a 2011 Scene cover story and has re-emerged recently and gone viral online after some of the world's biggest celebrities — including Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and LeBron James — began advocating for her on social media. 

In their application for clemency, Brown's lawyers — led by Charles Bone — ask the governor to commute her sentence to second-degree murder, which would allow for her release. 

Bone, who first took an interest in Brown's case seven years ago, writes in the application's cover letter that his introduction to Brown "opened a door that has changed my life." 

"In Cyntoia I found an amazing young woman making the most of her awful circumstances," he writes later. "I have had a front row seat to her transformation and the unlocking of her incredible intelligence by an educational program in which she was challenged to aspire to reach for the excellence within her." 

He goes on to detail the awful circumstances that led to the night she shot and killed Johnny Allen, the 43-year-old man who had picked her up for sex, including the fact that she had suffered from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder as a child. Brown's mother testified that she drank a fifth of whiskey every day during her pregnancy. 

Barry's letter also cites Brown's participation in various rehabilitation and education programs, noting that Brown is currently in the process of receiving her bachelor's degree from Lipscomb University.

"She recently completed a capstone project for her bachelor's degree in which she used her own personal experience to develop an innovative program to help young girls avoid becoming victims of exploitation in their own lives," Barry writes. 

The mayor also cites the assessment of Dr. William Bernet, professor emeritus with the Department of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University. Bernet evaluated Brown when she was 16, and did so again this year.   

Dr. Bernet stated in a report dated October 3, 2017, that 'being imprisoned over 13 years has had beneficial aspects for Ms. Brown ... She has learned how to relate to other people in a more balanced manner and to have improved self-esteem with a greater sense of purpose in her own future." Upon weighing the circumstances of her Ms. Brown's Adverse Childhood Experiences, the unique circumstances of her offense, and Ms. Brown's extraordinary rehabilitation in prison, Dr. Bernet stated, "I conclude that it will be appropriate to change Ms. Brown's conviction from first degree murder to second degree murder."

Barry also writes that she wants to include Brown in Nashville's Youth Violence Summit upon her release.

The Haslam administration has said that the governor is reviewing Brown's case. He has not yet granted clemency to anyone during his time in office, although that's not unusual. His predecessor, Phil Bredesen, waited until the final days of his second term to issue 22 pardons, five commutations and two exonerations.