Cyntoia Brown, a child sex slave who killed the man who bought her, was excluded from a clemency list released by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. The lame duck governor granted executive clemency to 11 people on Thursday, WSMV reports.
“I am pleased to grant these acts of clemency,” Haslam said in a news 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.”
News of Brown’s exclusion sent shockwaves on Thursday, with many disappointed after being hopeful that Brown would get some sympathy from the governor and perhaps finally be released from serving 51 years in prison.
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“Haslam’s exclusion of Cyntoia in today’s clemency announcement once again points to the disregard of Black women and girls by the carceral state. The time is now that Gov. Haslam listens to the voice of the people, of justice, and grants Cyntoia her clemency immediately. Cyntoia cannot wait. Black girls and women (cis and trans) cannot and will not wait. And we as Black Lives Matter Nashville will not wait,” said Black Lives Matter Nashville in aa statement regarding the exclusion of Brown.
Brown was just 16 years old and a victim of child sex trafficking when she was charged in 2004 with killing a 43-year-old Nashville real estate agent who solicited sex from her. Earlier this month, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Brown must serve at least 51 years in prison before she’s eligible for release.
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The court ruled defendants like Brown, who are convicted of first-degree murder committed after July 1, 1995 and sentenced to life imprisonment, can’t become eligible for release from prison before serving more than five decades, according to Pix 11 News.
In a unanimous decision earlier this month, the court’s five justices ruled that despite Brown’s age, her sentence was constitutional. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit in which Brown argued her sentence was unconstitutional, citing a 2012 opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court that said mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders violate the US Constitution.
In 2011, the PBS documentary, Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story details the atrocities that Brown suffered. A man named “Kut Throat”, said to be her pimp, allegedly forced her into prostitution and she was regularly raped, choked, beaten and drugged.
Read the full list of pardons here.