Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story

Good documentary. Yes, I miss more details of the story here and there, but isn't that always the case in crime documentaries?

A must see for fans of crime .

There isn't much that I can write that others haven't touched on. A young woman kills a man, not enough is made of looking at who or what the victim was, but then again a life was taken, and if you don't want it to look like you killed him just to rob him, don't take his stuff. It's hard to fully paint a victim, but then again nobody does. Her defense lawyers never once shy away from holding their hands up and saying "Yes, she murdered him." Neither does she. But there are interesting aspects. Should a 16 year old really be tried as an adult? Is the sentence too harsh? Does the fact she is a victim of foetal alcohol poisoning really a defense?

On the last question, the documentary actually gives an interesting insight; nature vs nurture. Other reviews state she had a crap childhood. Actually, not really. She was adopted out of a bad childhood early by a loving, church going, caring mother who sent her to school like any other child. However, Cyntoia was not interested in education, choosing drink, drugs, partying, and sex with a much older boyfriend, running away briefly at 12 after being kicked out of school and scared what her mother would say. She went back to school but dropped out again, later confessing she thought she knew it all. These were all traits of her biological mother; drink, drugs, parties. A woman she appeared to have no contact or influence from prior to trial.

If you take nothing else from this, take the study of nature vs nurture as your foundation going into the documentary. It does make it more interesting.

While the story being told is interesting, the documentary feels very lackluster. The older footage is from an already made documentary and while it's a good outcome on the clemency hearing, the story just sort of ends. It would have been nice to see a follow up with Cyntoia. The interviews with the biological gma were unnecessary. The whole doc was underwhelming, no info you couldn't get from googling.

I'm listing the initial set up for the documentary as seen in the documentary previews, not the middle or end.

Cyntoia Brown was adopted as a young child from a bio mother that was a drug-addicted 16 year old. When Cyntoia was 16 years old herself, she ran away from her adopted home and would hang out with a drug dealer and pimp named Kut-Throat. Cyntoia says most of the time they were doing drugs or having sex when he didn't have her working as a prostitute.

One evening Cyntoia meets a man named Johnny Allen in the parking lot of a Sonic. After small talk Allen asked Cyntoia if she was hungry and if she was up for any action? They went to his house and had sex.

At some point after sex, Cyntoia shot Allen in the head with a gun she kept in her purse. She claimed the shooting was self defense - that she believed he was reaching for a gun under the bed. The prosecution claimed she shot him while he was sleeping so she could rob him.

After shooting Allen, Cyntoia took $172 , two of his guns and his truck.

The documentary follows what happened to Cyntoia after Tennessee charged her with Allen's 2004 murder. She was labeled a prostitute (today she would be seen as a childhood victim of sex trafficking), and charged as an adult for the crime instead of a minor.

Based on the evidence it's pretty clear Allen was sleeping when he was shot by Cyntoia, which would usually give me sympathy for him. But Allen was a Real Estate agent and a Youth Pastor - a move many pedophiles make to get the trust of the community and access to kids. (That was not part of the documentary.) Allen calling himself a Youth Pastor, while sleeping with a 16 year old girl, suggests he was a pedophile and sex predator (again, my speculation, not part of the documentary).

The documentary POV is one of sympathy for Cyntoia, skipping over other violent acts she committed as a teen. Her case became well known after many celebrities started sharing it on social media.

The documentary mainly focuses on Cyntoia's effort to rehabilitate herself and her attempt to get clemency from the Republican Tennessee Governor. Overall an interesting watch.

The documentary is initially interesting for about 15-20 minutes. However, it leaves too many questions and relies on the emotional heartstrings of the viewer. For example, what was the prosecutors side for the killing, robbery, and initial arrest? Why were any of the prosecutors counter arguments left out? A quick Google search shows that there was a lot more evidence (notes in jail, attacking medical staff, etc.) to be considered that was not even mentioned in the documentary.

I deeply sympathize with the case and believe that justice finally prevailed, but the documentary itself missed the mark for telling the a balanced story.