'Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story': Release date, plot, cast and all you need to know about the Netflix documentary
Cyntoia Brown was convicted in 2004 to spend 51 years in jail for murdering a real estate agent, Jonny Allen. She was granted clemency in 2019. She was 16 years old when she first went to trial for the murder. She had accused Allen of forcing her into prostitution at an early age. The documentary 'Murder to Mercy: The Cyntonia Brown story' follows Brown from the week of her arrest until her conviction almost six years later.
Release date
The documentary will be released on April 29, 2020, on Netflix.
Plot
The documentary follows the story of Cyntoia Brown, from the week she was put on trial for killing Allen until six years till her conviction. It will question her past and physiology and also look into whether her act was self-defense or not. It will also show the unused footage of 'Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story' documentary. It covers her defense team leading up to the trial and the day jury that convicted her for murder and aggravated robbery.
Allen, 43, a real estate agent, had allegedly paid Brown $150 to have sex with him. They had reportedly met at a parking lot and went to his home where she shot him in the back of his head. She fled the crime scene with his wallet and two of his guns. She was later arrested and pleaded that it was in self-defense, though the jury did not think it was.
Cast
Cyntoia Brown
Cyntoia Brown, 32, who was convicted for the murder of Allen, spent 15 years in jail. She was sentenced to serve 51 years in jail but her documentary 'Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story' caught the eye of some influential celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna.
She was granted clemency by Governor Bill Haslam in 2019. She is on 10-year parole and will perform 50 hours of community service. During her time in prison, Brown wrote about her life behind bars. A memoir of Brown's 15 years in prison titled 'Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System' was published by Atria Books in 2019 post her release.
The documentary will feature her but it is not known if she will be giving interviews.
Director/Producer
The documentary was directed and produced by Dan Birman. He is popular for his previous documentary on Brown's life, 'Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story'. In six years, he has collected more than 200 hours of footage, most of which were unused in the original documentary. Netflix landed the rights to a new feature documentary from Birman about Brown's life after her release in 2019.
Trailers
There's no trailer out for the documentary yet, but watch this space for updates.
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