Woman in prison for life files request to lessen sentence
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lawyers for a Tennessee woman serving a life sentence for killing a man who solicited her for prostitution when she was 16 have petitioned the state parole board to commute her sentence.
The Tennessean reports attorneys for 29-year-old Cyntoia Brown filed the request Tuesday to reduce her first-degree murder sentence to second-degree murder, which could allow for her release next year. Supporters say she's been unjustly punished, forced as a child into prostitution.
Brown was convicted in the 2004 shooting of 43-year-old Johnny Allen. Prosecutors said Brown killed him to rob him. Brown said she feared harm after Allen picked her up and drove her to his house.