Chattanooga group supporting clemency for Cyntoia Brown

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)– A group in Chattanooga is writing to Governor Haslam to encourage him to grant clemency to Cyntoia Brown.

At the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga, they were handing out postcards. Postcards to Governor Haslam asking him to free Brown.

“We are hoping that Governor Haslam will continue to show strong support for victims of human trafficking and grant clemency to Ms. Brown because she was a victim at the time that she shot her abuser,” said Emily O’Donnell, executive director with the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga.

They are also writing to Brown.

“We are thinking about you. We are fighting for you. So we are hoping people will reach out to her as well,” O’Donnell said.

Brown is serving a sentence for first degree murder after she was convicted of killing a man when she was sixteen.

She has the possibility of parole after 51 years.

Brown says she was a victim of human trafficking and she feared for her life before she shot Johnny Allen.

“Since Cyntoia Brown was convicted state and federal laws have changed around whether a minor person can be a prostitute. Governor Haslam has been a very strong leader in this area. We worked with him and the state legislature to change the laws so that a minor child cannot be arrested for prostitution,” O’Donnell said.

Advocates for human trafficking victims say they think if this case went to trial today, the results would be different.

“I think that law enforcement would be specially trained to approach the child as it was in this case with the mentality that she is a victim needing services, because Cyntoia Brown, by the time she was 16 she had been trafficked for years. She had been raped many times. She had been severely physically and emotionally abused by family members and her very violent pimp.,” O’Donnell said.

With these postcards, they are hoping Governor Haslam will grant clemency for Brown.

“We hope that he will help this women start to heal rather than continue to be punished for the crimes committed against her,” O’Donell said.

If you are interested in sending a postcard to Governor Haslam, contact the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga.