On the Other Hand, Cyntoia Brown, Sex-Trafficking Victim, Must Serve 51 Years Before Release

While Jacob Anderson rapes a woman and walks free, Cyntoia Brown, a Tennessee woman who was a victim of sex-trafficking, has been convicted … as a teenager … of shooting the man who pimped her out and must serve 51 years before she is eligible for release.

In case you didn’t get it, Cyntoia Brown is a black woman.

Brown was just 16-years-old in 2004 when she killed real estate agent Johnny Allen. Allen had solicited Brown for sex, taken her to his home and showed her his guns. Later in bed, Brown thought Allen was reaching for his gun to shoot her, so she grabbed a handgun from her purse and shot him first. She then stole the money from Allen’s wallet, took his guns and drove his truck to a Walmart.

At the time, Brown was a runaway, living with her 24-year-old boyfriend, a pimp known as “Kut Throat,” who raped her and forced her into prostitution. But teenager Cyntoia Brown was tried as an adult, convicted of first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery. She was sentenced to life in prison in 2006.

When her case received widespread attention, a documentary of her case was filmed; activists and celebrities tried to get her released.

But this week Tennessee’s Supreme Court said that, under the state’s law, defendants like Brown who were convicted of first-degree murder after July 1, 1995, can only be released from prison after serving at least 51 years of their sentences. 

After the Tennessee Supreme Court’s ruling made headlines, Brown’s advocates pointed out how white men and women who commit crimes are handed lighter sentences than people of color.

Like that of Keeva Delaney, who was twenty-three when she was convicted of killing her husband during an argument. Her sentence? One year in jail, and nine years of probation. Oh, but wait, it gets better. Delaney will serve her sentence one month at a time for ten years; yes, every June she must report to the jail and spend a month there, then take the next eleven months off before she goes back in for another thirty days.

And what about millionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein? He was accused of trafficking minor girls and coercing them into sex acts in his mansion for at least six years. He got thirteen months.

A black woman, Cyntoia Brown, who was a sixteen-year-old girl forced into a life of prostitution as a child, killed a man and will spend 51 years in jail.

A White woman, Keeva Delaney, shot and killed her husband because maybe he was a little too friendly with another woman. She was given one year in jail, and the option of serving one month a year for ten years and living free the rest of the time.

A rich white man, Jeffrey Epstein, forced girls into sexual trafficking, and raped dozens of them in his own home. He’ll be jailed for thirteen months.

Ain’t that America.

Huffington Post