Just days ahead of her release from prison, Cyntoia Brown has issued a statement thanking her supporters for having her back throughout her grueling legal process and also asking for privacy as she finally returns home.
In a public statement, it was confirmed that Brown will be released from prison tomorrow, Aug. 7, after being granted clemency by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam back in January.
“While first giving honor to God who made all of this possible, I would also like to thank my many supporters who have spoken on my behalf and prayed for me,” Brown said in the statement. “I’m blessed to have a very supportive family and friends to support me in the days to come. I look forward to using my experiences to help other women and girls suffering abuse and exploitation. I thank Governor and First Lady Haslam for their vote of confidence in me and with the Lord’s help I will make them as well as the rest of my supporters proud.”
For now, Brown has requested that there be no public event or media availability on the day of her release, wishing to “leave the prison and seek some time for privacy and transition before she makes herself available to the public and the media.”
“I have been honored to lead an amazing team of lawyers and supporters in the efforts to free Cyntoia during the past nine years. Every person who was asked to participate in any effort on her behalf agreed to assist on a pro bono basis because of her compelling story and the commitment to justice,” Brown’s lead attorney, Charles W. Bone added in the statement. “When her story is told in much greater detail, the words which describe her success include redemption, education, rehabilitation, salvation, mercy and freedom. We will all rejoice with her on August 7 and in the days to come.”
Brown and her team of lawyers successfully fought off a life-sentence ruling, arguing in a lawsuit that the sentence was unconstitutional. Brown was only 16-years-old when she was convicted for the murder of Johnny Mitchell Allan, a real estate agent who had solicited her for sex.
Brown has long insisted that she was a victim of sex-trafficking and said she acted only in self-defense, fearing that Allan would kill her.