life sentence Archives

A sex trafficking survivor who was serving a life sentence in prison after she was convicted of murder has been freed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Cincinnati-based news station WCPO reports. Alexis Martin’s case had become a cause célèbre among criminal justice advocates. Martin, who was reared in a drug-addled home, reportedly was forced into…

Cyntoia Brown, the former teen sex slave who killed a client and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison, will finally be released from Tennessee Prison for Women next week. Brown’s case became a cause célèbre as a mentally, physically and sexually tortured 16-year-old was inexplicably tried as an adult and ordered to serve at…

The name Lee Boyd Malvo is one that brings to mind the terror that struck Washington, D.C. and gripped the nation. In 2002, Malvo, at the time 17, was the accomplice of John Allen Muhammad, who is better known as “The DC Sniper.” Together, the pair was responsible for the death of 10 people in…

At the age of 16, Cyntoia Brown was allegedly raped and trafficked by a pimp named “KuttThroat” in Nashville, Tennessee. Brown soon found herself servicing numerous men until she was sold to a Nashville realtor named Johnny Allen. After being raped by Allen repeatedly, she shot him to death with his own gun. In 2004, Brown was…

Celebrity spouse and reality star Kim Kardashian West has stepped into the issue of mass incarceration after being moved by the plight of two women. It is being reported that Kardashian has hired Los Angeles-based criminal lawyer Shawn Holley to help in the cases of Alice Johnson, 62, and Cyntoia Brown, 29, Black women who…

At the age of 16, Cyntoia Brown found herself raped and trafficked by a pimp named “KuttThroat” in Nashville, Tennessee. Brown soon found herself sexually serving numerous men until she was sold to a Nashville realtor named Johnny Allen. After being raped by Allen repeatedly, she was able to turn the tables on her captor and…

Your heart hurts when you hear stories like that of 62-year-old Alice Marie Johnson. She has grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, she will never see them outside of prison, where she is serving a life sentence without parole for a nonviolent offense. Johnson was sentenced to life without parole in…

In 2002, the Washington, DC area was gripped in fear as unsuspecting victims were shot by John Allen Muhammad and his teenage stepson Lee Boyd Malvo. The DC Sniper attacks claimed the lives of 17 people and injured three others in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Muhammad was executed for his crimes in 2009, while Malvo,…

The dramatic descent of Aaron Hernandez from NFL star to prison gang member was on full display recently during a court appearance. During a pre-trial hearing for an upcoming double murder case, he was sporting a new prison tattoo. The tattoo says “lifetime” and “loyalty” with a 5-pointed star and a skull and spiderweb. Some…

It’s been a long journey for Donald Gates, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years. Gates was accused of the 1982 murder and rape of Georgetown student Catherine T. Schilling of Locust, New Jersey. It has been proven that Gates was framed for the murder by two Washington, DC police detectives. Earlier on Wednesday in…