She Claims It Was Self Defense

Despite her defense team maintaining that she acted purely out of self defense, and that she had acted in ‘the only way she knew how,’ she was still portrayed as a murderer, a killer who had planned to kill Allen and rob him of his belongings after the 43-year old man had solicited a mere 16-year old on the streets for sex.

Tried As An Adult

And if this wasn’t bad enough, Cyntoia, who was assessed by William Bernet, a Vanderbilt University forensic psychiatrist, was not only deemed fit to stand trial, but it was decided that she would be tried as an adult, rather than a juvenile. And the charge against her would be that of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery.