If Netflix’s latest crime documentary on teen sex trafficking victim and murder convict Cyntoia Brown wasn’t enough to get our hearts racing, here be another twist in the tale — it’s unauthorized!
The story of Cyntoia Brown, the alleged sex trafficking victim who was sentenced to prison at 16 for shooting an estate agent who had picked her up for sex, is no stranger to us.
Especially since there were scores of celebrities championing her release by supporting Brown’s statement that she shot in self-defense. The list included the likes of Lana Del Rey, LeBron James, Rihanna, and also Kim Kardashian-West.
What Happened To Cyntoia Brown
In its latest production, Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story, Netflix is exploring the extraordinary circumstances under which a 16-year-old girl was sentenced for life under the Tennessee law.
In 2004, then 16-year-old Brown was given a lifer for murdering 43-year-old Johnny Allen. While pleading guilty, the teenager maintained that she only shot the man because she thought ‘he was going to shoot me’.
Who was the real victim — the murdered man or the 16-year-old who was allegedly abused sexually as a child and later forced into prostitution? If the latter, then is the system at fault for failing to protect its girls and punishing them if and when they chose to do so themselves?
And considering Brown spent 15 years in prison before being granted clemency. During which time she graduated with an associate’s degree and had an impeccable record as an inmate — there is the question of how perception before our skewed law may change with time.
There sure are a lot of bases to cover for this latest Netflix venture. To add more, Brown, now 32, has disassociated herself from its creation.
In a Tweet published from her official account on April 15, she stated:
“While I was still incarcerated, a producer who has old footage of me made a deal with Netflix for an UNAUTHORIZED documentary, set to be released soon. My husband and I were as surprised as everyone else…we did not participate in any way.”
What’s The True Story? – By Brown
Brown was 14 years old at the time of the incident. At 16, she was found guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder, and aggravated robbery, and was sentenced to life in prison.
However, she did not stop at that and continued to share her story with scores of people, asking them to support her call for clemency.
In 2017, Brown’s case got viral media attention when celebrities began posting her story. She was eventually commuted and released in August 2019.
Brown now wants to tell her story in her own way. At the time of her release, the word was she wanted to write a book about her arduous journey through the world of underage prostitution, racial biases of American law, and victim-blaming. But without giving any confirmation, she wrote in her Tweet Wednesday:
However, I am currently in the process of sharing my story, in the right way, in full detail, and in a way that depicts and respects the woman I am today. While I pray that this film highlights things wrong in our justice system, I had nothing to do with this documentary. pic.twitter.com/gAACNyJksw
— Cyntoia Brown Long (@cyntoia_brown) April 15, 2020
Meanwhile, Netflix is yet to comment on the allegation leveled.
Netflix Documentary
Murder to Mercy, directed by Daniel H. Birman, hits Netflix on April 29. Birman has previously directed docs about Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger (the pilot behind the “Miracle on the Hudson,” who was played by Tom Hanks in Clint Eastwood’s Sully).
Interestingly, Birman also directed a seven-part TV series called Sentencing Children back in 2016, which explored Cyntoia’s case in great detail. You can watch that entire series right now on PBS’s website.
In the doc’s new trailer, also released Wednesday, Brown says, ‘When I was 16, I did a horrible thing. I do pray that you show me mercy and that you give me a second chance.”
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