As we watch a parade of grown women recount everything from being verbal to physically accosted by men these days, in unwanted episodes of varying sexual depravity, we sometimes forget that the most abused among us generally have no voice.
Child sex trafficking continues to skyrocket, and because pimps generally move their girls around frequently and keep them under lock and key, their plight, far too often, goes undetected.
Such was the case for now-29-year-old Cyntoia Brown, who’s been imprisoned for 13 years for murdering a man she says planned to rape, and she thought, to kill her. Raised by two generations of women who had also been raped, and born to a mother who was drinking heavily while pregnant, Cyntoia entered the world with two strikes already against her.
It wouldn’t take long for the third strike to catch her and put her in prison, seemingly for life. But now, she may have a shot at redemption, thanks to some friends in high places.
Born with fetal alcohol syndrome, Brown herself started drinking at nine years old, and by 16, was smoking pot and taking ecstasy in Nashville, where she lived. As described in a 2011 documentary about her, titled “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story,” Brown’s history of neglect and addiction would sadly set her up as a sitting duck for a pimp looking for victims.
Hers turned out to be Garion McGlothen, aka “Kutthroat.” The 24-year-old procurer made friendly overtures to Brown, taking her with him to Florida on a trip, where he was involved in both selling and using cocaine. After giving her what Brown later insisted was date rape drugs in her vodka, Kutthroat raped the young girl over and over in a motel room.
From there, he pimped her out, making her charge $250, which she split with McGlothen. It was in August of 2004 that Brown encountered Nashville realtor Johnny Allen, who picked her up in front of a fast-food restaurant. When he drove her home close to midnight, Brown later testified, she feared he would kill her, noting that he had many guns in his house. Spurred by the paranoia of coming down from two weeks of nonstop cocaine use with Kutthroat, she became convinced it was killed or be killed.
She said he reached for her and when she pushed back, she was sure he had reached for a firearm. She took out her own weapon that McGlothen had given her (a usual move for a pimp, certainly) and shot Allen in the head, killing him.
The tragic and complicated case put a 16-year-old girl who had been physically abused since her conception behind bars for 51 years, meaning she wouldn’t be considered for parole until she is 67 years old.
Now celebrities like Kim Kardashian, singer Rihanna, and model Cara Delevingne are all getting behind the case, insisting Brown was defending herself and shouldn’t have been punished after the life she had led through no fault of her own.
Kardashian has even said she may have her own legal team look into bringing justice for Cyntoia, who is now a woman and college graduate who got her degree behind bars. Cyntoia even delivered a commencement address at the Tennessee Prison for Women, when she herself got her associate’s degree from Lipscomb University in 2015.
Because of the documentary on her life and the recent celebrity spotlight, there’s a good chance that Brown may get another chance at freedom, hopefully long before her sentence is served.
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