Sex-Trafficking Victim Must Serve 51 Years
Cyntoia Brown, Sex-Trafficking Victim, Must Serve 51 Years Before Release, Court Says
Brown, who was allegedly forced into prostitution, is serving a life prison sentence for killing a man she thought was going to shoot her.
Cyntoia Brown, a Tennessee woman who was convicted as a teenager for shooting a man who picked her up while she was a victim of sex-trafficking, must remain in prison for at least 51 years before she is eligible for release, Tennessee’s Supreme Court said Thursday.
The court’s opinion was in response to a lawsuit that argues that Brown’s life sentence is unconstitutional due to a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme court that said mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles violates the U.S. Constitution.
In response to the court’s opinion, the Women’s March on Saturday announced a nationwide march in support of Brown and other sex-trafficking victims to be held on Jan. 19.
Brown was 16 years old in 2004 when she killed real estate agent Johnny Allen, 43. At the time, Brown had run away from home and was living with her 24-year-old boyfriend, a pimp known as “Kut Throat,” who raped her and forced her into prostitution, according to Brown’s lawyers.
SOURCE ⇒ HUFFPOST
