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Sentenced to Life at 16 for Killing Sexual Predator, Now She Gets a Second Chance

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Imprisoned for already half her life, Cyntoia Brown will get another chance to make her case after a US federal appeals court agreed to hear arguments on her behalf.

Brown, 30, was sentenced to life at 16 for the murder of a man who held her captive as his sex slave.

Her sentence included no chance of parole until after she serves 51 one years.  Many have called her sentence unfair.

This week an appeals court in Cincinnati agreed to the case and Brown is expected to ask for leniency. 

Her attorneys are expected to quote recent Supreme Court rulings declaring mandatory life sentences for minors without the possibility of parole as unconstitutional.

Brown was trafficked by a pimp named Kutthroat, who physically, sexually, and verbally abused her until he sold her to 43-year-old realtor Jonny Allen. 

The teen said Allen owned several guns and acted strangely. Convinced he would murder her, Brown grabbed one of her captor's guns and shot him dead. 

Many across the nation have taken an interest in the case.

"I have a college degree now. I have a family ... a whole community of people who love me, who believe in me, who support me," Brown told the board in the Tennessee Prison for Women on May 23.

Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, and LeBron James have called for Brown's release.

"The system has failed. It's heartbreaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what's right. I've called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this," Kardashian West posted on Twitter back in November.

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