Cynotia Brown serves a life sentence in prison for killing a man who bought her for sex when she was 16, and CNN said she could still be freed soon.
The Tennessee Supreme Court said Brown would have to serve at least 51 years in prison for killing the man in 2004.
From what I've read, she was dating someone who was verbally, physically and emotionally abusive. He told her some girls were meant to be whores so at least be a good one. He was referred to as "Cut Throat" and was 24 years old. He forced her into prostitution.
I can only imagine what she went through. She went through a lot of abuse so she might have been vulnerable and not confident. She must have been scared because she felt like she had no way out of prostitution.
She could not just up and leave because "Cut Throat" pulled a gun on her multiple times and he even choked her so hard she passed out. This as all before he forced her into prostitution so what makes you think she can leave easily. She probably did not want to be in prostitution in the first place, hence the word force.
Nowhere did I read about Cut Throat being prosecuted for forcing her into prostitution. But I suppose they used to date so it doesn't matter. But of course it matters. It's unfair that Brown is being prosecuted for not only defending herself but getting the courage to do something about it.
She was probably tired of being used and thought that killing would be the only way out of it. If you think about it, how would you get out of the prostitution scene after being forced into it after having a rough childhood? Your mindset might have been so fragile it didn't seem possible to leave.
The judges did not see it as Brown defending herself because the man did not have a weapon on him. For that, judges thought it was killing in cold-blood. When really, they should be focusing on prosecuting Cut Throat because he is the one who got her into this mess in the first place. But of course, the judges said she was not a victim because after she killed him, she took his money.
Well, of course she took the money, she had to show Cut Throat she had the money or else who knows what he would have done to her. She was scared yet no one seemed to care. Especially, not the justice system since they want to give her at least 51 years in prison.
Realistically, since she killed a man, she could have been sentenced to 6 months at best. 51 years is too excessive, especially for someone in her situation. Ideally, she should be given bail so she can resume her life and start over. One of the emotions judges lack is compassion for others. They want to see the crime at hand but no one wants to prosecute what happened before to make her have that mindset.
