Kim Kardashian Calls on Her High-Powered Legal Team to Help Free Cyntoia Brown: Report

Kim Kardashian West has reportedly enlisted the help of her high-powered attorney to try and free a sex trafficking survivor who was sentenced to decades in prison for killing a man who solicited her for prostitution as a teen.

Kardashian West is making good on a promise she tweeted earlier this week, vowing to do all she could to help Cyntoia Brown, a 29-year-old woman who was sentenced as an adult at 16 years old for killing Johnny Mitchell Allen, a 43-year-old real estate agent who allegedly solicited sex from her.

Along with Brown, Kardashian West, 37, is looking to help Alice Johnson, a 62-year-old grandmother serving 21 years in prison for a first time, non-violent drug offense, according to The Blast. Mic originally reported Johnson’s story.

The star’s attorney, Shawn Holley, told The Blast that Kardashian West “asked me to help her find a way to help these women.”

“We have already contacted Alice Johnson and her team of lawyers who are now actively trying to find ways to facilitate her release,” Holley said.

Holley said he has a conference call scheduled for Friday to begin discussions regarding Brown’s case.

Brown was 16 years old in 2004 when she fatally shot Allen in Tennessee, according to court documents and multiple local reports. She admitted to fatally shooting Allen in the back of the head.

Kim Kardashian West
Kim Kardashian West

Brown has been behind bars for more than 13 years and becomes eligible for parole soon after she turns 69. The woman reportedly endured repeated sexual abuse as a kid, according to the Tennessean.

The paper further reports that Brown had been in and out of the custody of the Department of Children’s Services “for years.”

Brown said she was forced into prostitution by a boyfriend who essentially became the underage girl’s pimp, taking the money that she would make. She claimed she shot Allen in self-defense because she allegedly saw him reach for his gun.

Wendy Tucker (left) and Cyntoia Brown
Wendy Tucker (left) and Cyntoia Brown

Although she has been incarcerated for more than a decade, interest in her story was reignited when stars like Kardashian West, Rihanna and Cara Delevingne shared a tweet about her controversial case.

In 2011, Brown was the subject of the PBS documentary Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story. The film was produced by Daniel H. Birman, who documented Brown’s case from the week of her arrest until her conviction almost six years later. (Birman’s social media post went viral.)

“The system has failed. It’s heart breaking 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. #FreeCyntoiaBrown,” Kardashian West tweeted Tuesday.