The Sins of Cyntoia Brown: A Johnny Allen PostScript

By Walt Trott

A factual account of the sensational 2004 Music City murder of musician-realtor-youth minister Johnny Allen. Mainstream media ignored the victim, concentrating instead on teen-aged prostitute Cyntoia Brown, who nonetheless cold-bloodedly shot and then robbed Allen. This controversial case became a cause celebre, arousing social med

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nova Books Nashville
• Release date: Feb 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9780990810568

Walt Trott

Nashville based journalist Walt Trott was entertainment editor for the daily European Stars & Stripes newspaper, as well as The Portland Press Herald (ME), The Capital Times (WI) and The Nashville Musician, official publication of the AFM; has penned numerous record liner notes for such stars as Connie Smith, Sonny James and The Browns; and written books on Charlie Lamb, Martha Carson, Johnnie & Jack and Kitty Wells. He continues to write for Country Music People magazine in the UK.

Book preview

The Sins of

Cyntoia Brown

A Johnny Allen PostScript

by Walt Trott

Edited by Bill Brough

For news on Nova Books Nashville, check out:  www.novabooksnashville.com

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The Sins of Cyntoia Brown:

A Johnny Allen PostScript

(c) 2021 NOVA BOOKS NASHVILLE,

Published by Ingram Books

Lightning Source, Inc.,

1246 Heil Quaker Blvd.,

LaVergne, TN 37086-1246

The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites for their content.

All rights reserved;

Manufactured in the USA.

Catalog data:

Trott, Walt

Social Activist Biographies/Walt Trott

p.series American Arts Culture

ISBN 978-0-9908105-5-1 Sins Of Cyntoia Brown (alk, paper)

ISBN 978-0-9908105-6-8 Sins Of Cyntoia Brown (ebook)

Notice: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, downloading or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher or author. Inquiries or orders should be addressed to: Nova Books.Nashville, P.O. Box 477, Madison, TN 37116-0477, or [e-mail].

Cover photos by Patricia Presley and Walt Trott; plus publicity shots of Mr. Allen, courtesy of Randy Allen; while graphics are by BarkoDesign of Nashville, TN.

Dedication

To the family & friends of Johnny Allen.

Johnny%27s%20grave%20site%20NC.tifJohnny Allen

Editor’s recall…

(A) Good name in man and woman is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse, steals trash . . . But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed . . .

- Wm. Shakespeare

Author’s Preface…

August 7, 2019 marked the fifteenth anniversary of singer-songwriter Johnny Allen’s violent death. It was also the day Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam granted freedom to his killer, Cyntoia Brown. January 7, 2019 was the day he had officially signed her clemency order. For the uninitiated, what follows on these pages we literally label a Johnny Allen PostScript.

When we met Johnny, a North Carolina country music hopeful, he’d journeyed to Nashville, eager to make his dream come true. We saw promise in his raw talents, decided to promote him, and you can read about all that herein.

Like many before and since, Allen encountered the chill of an industry, with little empathy for newcomers. Valiantly trying to overcome the obstacles, Johnny certainly couldn’t foresee just how high the stakes would be, costing him a marriage, his chance at grabbing the brass ring on country’s carousel, and ultimately his very life. Who could envision such a nightmarish finale?

Always a high-energy guy, Allen found a day job in real estate, while as a member of the music community, still performing occasionally over time, but always pursuing his songwriting. We last saw Johnny just five days before his tragic passing, and can’t help thinking that this is the saddest song Johnny will never write.

While doing some research at the Metro Nashville Police Department, a fellow cautioned us about doing this book, noting there are a lot of crazed characters out there . . . and later, concerned close friend Kari Reeves, a medical specialist in psychiatric care, commented sagely: "Wonderful Walt, write the book - as a cathartic experience - but don’t release it!" No, we couldn’t let it go like that, and that’s not how freedom of the press works.

Indeed Mr. Allen was a friend who died too soon. What’s more, his good name was victimized as well by do-gooders who, in their reports, took a deep dive into alternate reality. In turning a blind eye to the true story, sad to say his family and friends had to hear that he was a pedophile, a sex-trafficker, a very evil person. That wasn’t the Johnny they knew and loved. That sort of tabloid journalism, a.k.a. muckraking, sells and in turn plugs their purpose. Internet culture can be very toxic, and subsequently difficult to control.

Actually, Allen had no criminal history. The only real records Allen accumulated, were of a vinyl consistency, and to the end practiced his Christian faith. In the beginning of his career, he carried that message in a gospel group The Revelores, before heading to Nashville to pursue his goal of pickin’ and singin’ country music.

Though sometimes short on funds earlier, Johnny didn’t bother with bankruptcy courts. Even if a fellow were guilty of a pay-for-play sexual encounter, as alleged by his executioner, we’ve witnessed presidents who have done far worse, and were not forever silenced.

Another problem that’s arisen is the practice of faith-based intervention in secular prison sentences. As a result, prisoners guilty of homicide can choose religious studies to help obtain their early release.

Understand that as a veteran journalist, who got his start in Vietnam, I’ve covered the battlefield, as well as visiting VIPs such as Omar Bradley, Bob Hope, Joey Heatherton, and oh yes, the colorful, off-key vocalist Mrs. Miller. I’ve since reviewed film folk and all styles of music, and though several are singled out in the coverage here, for better or worse, the reports in no way reflect on their super talents. We certainly respect their hard-won success.

Further, we admire humanitarian efforts to help those in need of rehabilitation, and assisting them in finding or returning to a rightful place in society. What’s wrong is when they cast aspersions on another’s character in doing so, contributing to a feeding frenzy that forever blackens one’s name, sans positive proof of guilt.

We recall a 2019 Netflix documentary - The Great Hack - in which ace British journalist Carole Cadwalladr exposed this dark side of social media, specifically the UK-based data company Cambridge Analytica. Allegedly the agency undermined both Brexit (British exiting the European Union) and the 2016 U.S. presidential election, before filing bankruptcy. Accordingly, The Observer newspaper’s Cadwalladr noted a whistleblower revealed that Cambridge Analytica illicitly obtained information from as many as 50 million Facebook profiles by abusing Facebook’s data-sharing features.

As a result, this shady surveillance prompted such technology tools a la Twitter and Facebook, coupling a series of witty Internet memes (a humorously-captioned image expressing feelings of a specific crowd) with phony messages, seemingly undermining democracy, both at home and abroad.

Feeling heat from such reports, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg found himself testifying before a 2018 Congressional Special Committee in Washington, D.C. To his advantage, many lawmakers were then unaware of the intricacies of Internet technology; however, he returned the next year, explaining his firm had learned from its 2016 missteps, and is now better-equipped to detect foreign interference in its platform. We’ll soon see.

The downer today is most people get their so-called news on-line. This has caused a reduction in newsroom staff, and too often a decline in daily newspaper investigative journalism coverage. Thus, we take issue with the rushed reporting on Allen by our Nashville media, mainly the leading newspaper, The Tennessean. Know, too, as a journalist, I’ve been inspired by that daily’s late, legendary editor and publisher John Seigenthaler, a real advocate of human rights. Initially my champion was the late, award-winning Ernie Chard in Maine - Portland Press Herald’s executive editor - who, many years ago, took a chance on an ex-GI to cover the local police beat.

That experience spurred a greater appreciation of homicide investigators in their systematic, skillful pursuits regarding leads - and not so-obvious leads - to determine conclusions in criminal cases. On these pages, we follow the stressful, insightful efforts of Nashville Police Department Homicide investigators’ Charles Robinson, Derry Baltimore and Pat Pastiglione, in their earnest efforts to bring a responsible party to justice back in 2004.

Another inspiration for tackling this controversial case was a January 2019 Facebook post by Friends of Johnny Allen, stating: "Our hearts are broken today as the Governor has decided to grant Johnny’s murderer clemency. The activist mob