EvidenceProf Blog

Cyntoia Brown & the "51-To-Life" Project: Alaska

This is the second in a series of posts on the "51-To-Life" Project. In Tennessee, if a juvenile is convicted of first-degree murder, there are two sentencing options: (1) life without the possibility of parole; or (2) life with the possibility of parole, with that possibility only existing after the juvenile has been incarcerated for 51 years. In this post, I will explain why Alaska treats juvenile homicide offenders better than Tennessee.

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Cyntoia Brown & the "51-To-Life" Project: Alabama

This is the first in a series of posts on the "51-To-Life" Project. In Tennessee, if a juvenile is convicted of first-degree murder, there are two sentencing options: (1) life without the possibility of parole; or (2) life with the possibility of parole, with that possibility only existing after the juvenile has been incarcerated for 51 years. In this post, I will explain why Alabama treats juvenile homicide offenders better than Tennessee.

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Cyntoia Brown & the "51-To-Life" Project

I've done a few posts (here, here, and here) about the Cyntoia Brown case.

Brown, now 29, was a 16-year-old victim of sex trafficking in Tennessee in 2004 when she fatally shot Johnny Mitchell Allen, a 43-year-old real estate agent who solicited sex from her, according to court documents and multiple local reports. Brown — who admitted she killed Allen by shooting him in the back of the head — becomes eligible for parole soon after she turns 69.

In doing those posts, what I've realized is that perhaps the most significant legal change in Tennessee that can help Brown and other juvenile lifers in Tennessee is a change in Tennessee's "51-To-Life" Law, which I outlined in this post. So, let me break that down, and then I will start the "51-To-Life" Project (similar to the Prior Inconsistent Statement Project).

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Cyntoia Brown & Tennessee's Aberrational "51-To-Life" Law for Juvenile Offenders

Earlier today, I did a second post on the case of Cyntoia Brown.

Brown, now 29, was a 16-year-old victim of sex trafficking in Tennessee in 2004 when she fatally shot Johnny Mitchell Allen, a 43-year-old real estate agent who solicited sex from her, according to court documents and multiple local reports. Brown — who admitted she killed Allen by shooting him in the back of the head — becomes eligible for parole soon after she turns 69.

In that post, I noted that neither the trial nor the appellate court heard evidence regarding Brown's birth mother kidnapping her and engaging in other behaviors that should have been relevant to the sentencing decision. But I closed that post by noting that this evidence wouldn't in fact have been relevant under Tennessee's sentencing scheme. Why?

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How Evidence that Cyntoia Brown's Birth Mother Kidnapped Her Was Never Considered by a Court

On Wednesday, I did a first post on the case of Cyntoia Brown.

Brown, now 29, was a 16-year-old victim of sex trafficking in Tennessee in 2004 when she fatally shot Johnny Mitchell Allen, a 43-year-old real estate agent who solicited sex from her, according to court documents and multiple local reports. Brown — who admitted she killed Allen by shooting him in the back of the head — becomes eligible for parole soon after she turns 69.

One of the big questions in the Brown case is whether, given, her circumstances, she should have been given a sentence as a 16 year-old that doesn't even allow for the possibility of parole until well after she becomes a senior citizen. In making that determination, however, neither the trial nor the appellate court considered some key pieces of evidence.

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Cyntoia Brown and Prostitution Safe Harbor Laws for Minors

I've been getting a lot of questions about Cyntoia Brown. 

Brown, now 29, was a 16-year-old victim of sex trafficking in Tennessee in 2004 when she fatally shot Johnny Mitchell Allen, a 43-year-old real estate agent who solicited sex from her, according to court documents and multiple local reports. Brown — who admitted she killed Allen by shooting him in the back of the head — becomes eligible for parole soon after she turns 69.

In 2011, director Daniel Birman chronicled Brown's story in the documentary Me Facing Life: Seeking Redemption In Cyntoia Brown's Story. "The film gave insight on the physical, sexual and verbal abuse Brown suffered as a child before she was solicited for sex by 43-year-old realtor Johnny Mitchell Allen."

Subsequently,

Brown has completed her associate's degree and is now working on her master's. In December 2016, pictures of her receiving her associate's from Lipscomb University's in-jail program showed a hopeful Brown.

Cyntoia Brown's case calls into question several aspects of the criminal justice system. The first that I want to address is safe harbor laws limiting the criminal liability of minors who are arrested for prostitution.

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Washington Becomes 1st State in Country to Create Rule Deeming Immigration Status Evidence Inadmissible

Back in 2009/2010, I did a series of posts about whether lawyers and/or judges should be able to question witnesses about their immigration status. After doing a number of these posts, I wrote an essay for the Northwestern University Law Review Online: "Crossing Over: Why Attorneys (and Judges) Should Not Be Able to Cross-Examine Witnesses Regarding Their Immigration Statuses for Impeachment Purposes." Subsequently, the Court of Appeal of California cited the article in finding that a trial court properly precluded defense counsel from interrogating a prosecution witness about his immigration status. But, as far as I can tell, no jurisdiction ever created a categorical rule precluding such interrogation...until now.

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The Adnan Syed Case: Jenn's Interview & "A Different Broads House"

Last week, I posted an entry about Jenn's Day in the Adnan Syed case based on her trial testimony. Next, I planned to do a post about Jenn's Day based upon her police interview. I will still do that post, but I came across something interesting in Jenn's interview that I don't think I fully processed before. I also can't remember anyone else addressing it, so I figured I would do a post on it.

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The Adnan Syed Case: Jenn's Day

Recently, someone was asking about a particular aspect of Jenn's testimony in the Adnan Syed case. This led me to realize that while we had episodes on Adnan's Day, Hae's Day, and Jay's Day on Undisclosed, we never had an episode on Jenn's Day. This post is an attempt to piece together what she claims at trial was her timeline on January 13th (I might do a separate post in the future about her police statement). All of the excerpts are taken from Jenn's trial testimony. This post isn't an attempt to compare Jenn's day to other evidence/statements/testimony in the case; it's just laying out what she said.

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Is Failure to Register as a Sex Offender a Crime of Dishonesty or False Statement?

Similar to its federal counterpart, Arkansas Rule of Evidence 609(a)(2) provides that

For the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness, evidence that he has been convicted of a crime shall be admitted but only if the crime 

(2) involved dishonesty or false statement, regardless of the punishment.

So, does the crime of failure to register as a sex offender qualify as a crime of dishonesty or false statement under Rule 609(a)(2)? That was the question presented to the Court of Appeals of Arkansas in Pledger v. State, 2017 Ark. App. 566 (Ark.App. 2017).

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The Supreme Court of Georgia's Ruling in Undisclosed, LLC v. The State

On Monday, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled against Undisclosed in our attempt to get the court reporter's recording of the Joey Watkins trial. In doing so, Georgia's highest court made one decision that will greatly help future parties seeking access to court records and one decision that will greatly curtail that access. So, what did the Supreme Court of Georgia rule and why? 

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