Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam granted clemency to Cyntoia Brown Monday. Brown, an alleged sex trafficking victim, is serving a life sentence for killing a man when she was 16 years old.
Brown will be released from prison and put on parole supervision August 7th after serving 15 years on a first degree murder charge.
Brown claims she was raped and forced into the sex-trade by a pimp. In 2006, she was sentenced to life in prison after she shot one of her clients in what she claims was self defense.
Brown served more than a decade in prison before her case caught the attention of several celebrities and gained national notoriety with the hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown. Brown was also the subject of a 2011 PBS documentary entitled "Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story."
Governor Haslam said in a statement about Brown's case, "Transformation should be accompanied by hope. So, I am commuting Ms. Brown’s sentence."
Brown thanked Governor Haslam for his "mercy" in a statement of her own saying, "I will do everything I can to justify your faith in me."
