The case of Cyntoia Brown became a sensational story that captivated the world and became the focus of an international campaign for her freedom.
Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Rihanna got involved in the campaign to get her released after she was treated as an adult by the criminal justice system despite being 16 when she committed her crime and having been the victim of sex trafficking after a life of hardship.
After a campaign against what many saw as her wrongful imprisonment and 15 years in incarceration, Cyntoia was finally released last year.
However, who was the man that Cyntoia was convicted of murdering and how did his family react to the news of her release from prison?
In 2004, Cyntoia shot and killed Johnny Allen, a 43-year-old man who worked as a former real estate agent.
He had previously been married but divorced in 1999.
Allen was well known in his local community for his work as a Sunday school teacher and youth minister at Lakewood Church of Christ.
The pair were strangers when they met at an East Nashville sonic restaurant and Cyntoia was a 16-year-old sex worker.
Allen took Cyntoia back to his home with him and was eventually shot dead while he slept naked beside her.
She claimed that she feared for her life while with him and used a gun she carried in her purse to commit the act.
At Cyntoia's clemency hearing last year, a long-time friend of Allen's named Anna Whaley defended her killed friend, who she argued had been silenced in the protestations of Cyntoia's wrongful imprisonment.
According to Tennessean, Whaley said: "Johnny has a voice, and Johnny's family has a voice.
"Johnny's voice has not been heard in all these years. I want to say Johnny's life mattered.
"Cyntoia went out that night with a loaded gun in her purse and that was the gun she used to kill Johnny."
The police and Allen's loved ones claimed that he had been acting as a good Samaritan when he took Cyntoia home with him.
Police investigator Don Aaron said in 2004: "He understood her to be homeless, and, according to her, he took her home."
Cyntoia said he made her uncomfortable by touching her and citing a military background that intimidated her.
A female witness at the trial told the jury that she had been raped by Allen after striking up a friendship with him and attending his classes at church and going on dates with him.
The Friends of Johnny Allen page on Facebook were furious at news of Cyntoia's release.
They wrote: "Our hearts are broken today as the Governor has decided to grant Johnny's murderer clemency. The activist mob with their repetition of Cyntoia's lies and slander managed to prevail against justice."
Nashville police detective Charles Robinson, who investigated the case in 2004, argued against her release and doesn't believe Cyntoia's claims of why she killed him.
He wrote in 2017: "First and foremost, Cyntoia Brown did not commit this murder because she was a child sex slave as her advocates would like you to believe.
"Cyntoia Brown's motive for murdering Johnny Allen in his sleep was robbery."
Brown's defence team argued that due to her traumatic background of sex trafficking and living with foetal alcohol syndrome and being a mere 16-years-old meant that she should not have been judged as harshly as she was.
After she was originally convicted, Allen's mother said: "I do not know Cyntoia Brown, and I do not hate Cyntoia. I just hate the act that she did."
When Cyntoia was granted clemency last year, Allen's family were unhappy with her getting her freedom.
They said in a statement: "We are at a loss for words. We feel like the judicial system has failed again for victims everywhere.
"This world is all about power and money and not what is important such as honesty and fairness for those that work hard and try to help others. We are very saddened about this event.
"Our hearts are broken because we feel like Johnny never got to defend himself. We never got to be a voice for him. Please keep us in your prayers."
Cyntoia spoke in an interview on The Today Show last year about what she would want to say to Allen's family.
She said: "I would let them know that number one the way they feel is completely understandable.
"I don't think that we can tell someone how to feel when they've been through something like that and I completely understand.
"They've lost a loved one. I took that person from them. I would tell them that I apologize if they would ever want an opportunity to speak with me - I'd be more than happy to. I would (talk to them)."
As her case becomes the focus of a major new documentary film, Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story, she herself is not happy with her lack of involvement in the feature release.
She wrote on Instagram : "While I was still incarcerated, a producer who has old footage of me made a deal with Netflix for an UNAUTHORIZED documentary, set to be released soon.
"My husband and I were as surprised as everyone else when we first heard the news because we did not participate in any way.
"However, I am currently in the process of sharing my story, in the right way, in full detail, and in a way that depicts and respects the woman I am today."
She concluded: "While I pray that this film highlights things wrong in our justice system, I had nothing to do with this documentary."
We'll have to wait and see how the film portrays the real life events.
Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story is released on April 29, 2020.
What did you know about Cyntoia Brown's case? Let us know in the comments below.
