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Cyntoia Brown: Are you sure you heard me?

Roselin Solis

Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University

CRJ 2650: Gender and Crime

Dr. Laura Starzynski

December 11, 2022

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Cyntoia Brown: Are you sure you heard me?

Cyntoia Brown, a 34-year-old woman from Fort Campbell Tennessee, was convicted of

first-degree murder at the age of 16. She was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of

being on parole after 51 years. At the age of 16, Cyntoia was in a relationship with Garion

McGlothen who went by the name “Kut Throat”. While living together with Garion, Cyntoia

confesses that he, “emotionally, physically and sexually abused her” (Mitchell 2020). She also

explains how because of their struggle with paying rent Garion sent her out to become a

prostitute in order to make money. One-night Cyntoia went home with a 43-year-old man named

Johnny Allen and agreed to sleep with him for $150. Cyntoia shared that as they were in bed,

Allen turned over to his side to reach for something and she felt that he was going to harm her.

She reacted out of self-defense and pulled out her gun and shot Allen in the back of the head.

Cyntoia was then taken to trial and was given an unfair sentence, which was life in prison.

While Cyntoia was with Kut she shared that he had abused her in many different ways.

Sexual assault is quite traumatizing, and it definitely was for Cyntoia. Having to constantly

question your safety while being with an abuser, having to suffer and be raped with no say,

having to be sent out to the streets at a young age to be prostituted is all traumatizing. In fact, in a

peer-reviewed article for the Psychological Society of South Africa it is stated that, “Rape and

sexual assault have negative consequences for survivors, with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

(PTSD) being the most common psychiatric diagnosis used to capture the reaction to this

trauma” (Burden et al., 2009). Cyntoia was fearful while being with Johnny Allen especially

since she says that he reminded her of Kut. He showed her a few firearms that he had in the

house and because of this, she wanted to find ways to escape the house because she felt in

danger. They were lying in bed together and as he turned over to his side to reach for something,
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she reacted impulsively and shot him. Often times, people with PTSD will make impulsive

decisions when they are reminded of their traumatic pasts. She testifies that she shot him because

she thought he was going to shoot her. Shooting Johnny was purely out of self-defense.

Cyntoia, unfortunately, was also born with an intellectual disorder. This disorder is called

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). “FASD is a complex and chronic childhood disorder

which stems from fetal brain injury caused by prenatal alcohol exposure and results in lifelong

disability” (Phillips et al., 2022). Georgina Mitchell, Cyntoia’s biological mother, shares on the

“Murder to Mercy” documentary that she would drink and smoke marijuana every day and eight

months into the pregnancy she was introduced to crack cocaine. It is known for people with

FASD to, “have severe neurodevelopment impairment in several domains of function, including

cognition, language and adaptive behaviour” (Phillips et al., 2022). In a peer-reviewed article

from the Wayne State University School of Medicine it is stated that children with prenatal

alcohol exposure have behavioral control problems with, “attention, hyperactivity and

impulsivity” (Burden et al., 2009). When Cyntoia killed Johnny, it was very sudden and quick,

she did not think before doing so and because of FASD she was more prone to having problems

with impulsivity. I believe it is important to take into consideration the mental illness Cyntoia

had and how it affected her thinking and behavior.

Cyntoia Brown’s case was brought to surface again because of social media and was

reconsidered because of changed laws in the state of Tennessee. Cyntoia was considered a

prostitute back in 2004 but now she is considered a victim of sex trafficking. Cyntoia was a

minor yet tried as an adult and was given life in prison. I believe the verdict of her case was

wrong and was not well considered. Cyntoia had been sexually abused for years and suffered

from a mental illness which affected her life and choices she made. She was vulnerable as well
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which was easier for predators to take advantage of. Although Johnny Allen did not harm

Cyntoia in any way and did not deserve to die, he did indeed commit a crime and participated in

some form of human sex trafficking. Yes, Cyntoia confessed to killing Johnny Allen, but I do

believe that her sentence was way too harsh especially for a minor. Thankfully, Cyntoia was

granted clemency in January of 2019 and was released to parole supervision later that year.
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References

Burden, M. J., Andrew, C., Saint-Amour, D., Meintjes, E. M., Molteno, C. D., Hoyme, H. E.,

Robinson, L. K., Khaole, N., Nelson, C. A., Jacobson, J. L., & Jacobson, S. W. (2009). The

effects of fetal alcohol syndrome on response execution and inhibition: An event-related

potential study. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 33(11), 1994–2004.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2009.01038.x

Gajanan, M. (2020, April 29). The story behind murder to mercy: The cyntoia brown story.

Time. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://time.com/5828724/cyntoia-brown-

netflix-documentary/

Mitchell, M. (2020, May 5). Murder to mercy: Who is Kut Throat? what happened to Garion

McGlothen? Express.co.uk. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1278149/Murder-to-Mercy-who-is-Kut-

Throat-what-happened-to-Garion-McGlothen-prison-alive-killed

Phillips, N. L., Zimmet, M. D., Phu, A., Rattan, M., Zurynski, Y., & Elliott, E. J. (2022, August

1). Impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder on families. Archives of Disease in

Childhood. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-322703

Raphelson, S. (2017, December 1). Cyntoia Brown case highlights how child sex trafficking

victims are prosecuted. NPR. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/01/567789605/cyntoia-brown-case-highlights-how-child-sex-

trafficking-victims-are-prosecuted

Shabalala, N., & Jasson, A. (2011). PTSD symptoms in intellectually disabled victims of sexual

assault. South African Journal of Psychology, 41(4), 424–436.

https://doi.org/10.1177/008124631104100403