Sex trafficking victim Cyntoia Brown, 30, wasn’t among the 11 people granted executive clemency by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday, but her fight for freedom still isn’t over.
“I am pleased to grant these acts of clemency …” Haslam said in a press release. “These individuals have made positive contributions to their communities and deserve pardons, or are individuals who will receive another chance to become contributing members of society by virtue of their commutations.”
The governor pardoned seven people and commuted the sentences of four others. These actions did not grant any of the incarcerated persons involved an immediate release from prison, the release noted.
Although Brown’s hotly debated case wasn’t included in Haslam’s announcement, the governor has promised to make a decision in her case before leaving office in January.
At just 16 years old, Brown was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing a 43-year-old man who solicited her for sex. She had been forced into prostitution by her then-abusive boyfriend and said he feared for her life when she fatally shot Johnny Mitchell Allen while they were in bed.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that Brown must serve 51 years in prison before she’s considered for release. A state parole board was deadlocked on whether to grant her clemency at a hearing in May, but Haslam said the matter is still under review.
“We’re reviewing a lot of cases,” the governor said in Nashville at a live-streamed public forum on higher education sponsored by The Tennessean. “And while Cyntoia’s case has gotten a lot of publicity, I don’t think you want us to treat hers any differently than a whole lot of cases that I think people want us to review.”
The Tennessean reported that Haslam has previously granted one commutation, eight pardons and one exoneration. Nashville’s WSMV broke down the differences between all three:
“Executive clemency is an act of mercy or leniency by the governor after a criminal conviction,” the station reported. “A commutation is a reduction of the length or type of sentence imposed for a conviction, while a pardon is a statement of forgiveness that may assist with restoration of rights or expungement of a criminal record by a judge or overcoming the collateral consequences of a conviction with respect to obtaining housing and employment.”
Brown’s case made headlines earlier this year, thanks in part to a PBS documentary on her life entitled “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story” in 2011. A-list celebrities, including Kim Kardashian-West, Rihanna and Snoop Dogg, have rallied on Brown’s behalf and demanded changes to the justice system.
One of Brown’s professors, Rob Touchstone, is also speaking out, describing the woman behind the disheartening story as a “stellar student.” Touchstone, a professor at Lipscomb University, went behind bars to teach Brown and other inmates at the Tennessee Women’s Prison, the Tennessean reported. Brown went on to earn her Associate’s degree while incarcerated.
“She was one of the best students I’ve had the blessing of teaching,” Touchstone said in a recent interview. “She seems to have used this experience that none of us could even imagine to become a better person.”
