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After Serving 15 Years, Cyntoia Brown Is Granted Clemency By Governor

Brown will be released from prison and put on parole supervision August 7th after serving 15 years on a first degree murder charge.
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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."