this is "nightline." >> tonight. >> what i did was horrible. there's nothing to say to justify it. you can't justify it. >> road to redemption. forced into prostitution at 16, she killed a man who paid her for sex. but turned her life around while serving a life sentence, the famous faces fighting for her freedom. how sen toya brown became a tipping point for juvenile justice. plus. >> is this the best a man can get? >> gillette's razor its me too ad, now create beingg ei

ei controversy. the gamble big companies make. controversy. and the spotlight, spicing up "dancing with the stars" with ginger. but here first, here are the "nightline" five.

good evening, and thank you for joining us.

she wass sentenced to life in prison for a murder she committed at a teenager, but sen toya brown will be a free woman when she walks out in august. it will change more than just her life. here's abc's adrian bankert. >> i just want to say thank you, first. i know a lot of people get to see you, but i have prayed for a very long time to be -- >> reporter: sen toya brown is begging for mercy. the 30 year old is a college graduate, an advocate against sex trafficking and a convicted murder. >> what i did was horrible. there's nothing i can say to justify it. you can't justify it. you can't. you know, i killed johnny allen. he's gone. i thought he was reaching for a gun. >> then what did you do? >> i shot him. >> reporter: brown admits she

did it but maintains her sentence was too harsh for a teenager. it would take nearly 15 years and attention from a-list celebrities to put her c spotli highlight juvenile justice in documentar maker dan berman has been following her case since the beginning. >> within a day after she was arrested, the juvenile public defender gave me a call and said we just arrested somebody we think you ought to meet. >> reporter: officials in tennessee granted berman as ses to the then teenager. >> it was really to explain how one child's situation could be a dot connector for juveniles around the country. >> reporter: she was arrested for the murder of 40 allen. she says she was being prostituted by a pimp named cutthroat. cameras were rolling as she

described cut throat to a psychiatrist. >> the first time he did something to me is when he choked me and i passed out, because he said i thought he was a joke. >> mm-hm. what else did he do to you? >> pulled my by my hair, dragged me and guns. >> did you ever have sex with the guys? >> when i cut [ bleep ] i did. >> reporter: sen toya says cutthroat sent her out to work on that august night in 2004. she ended up at a sonic where she met allen. i offered to pay her $150 and took her home where the two ended up in bed. >> at first he was like stroking me, thaen en he grabbed me like between my legs. he just grabbed me real hard and gave me this look, it was like a

very fierce look, and it sent these chills up my spine. i'm thinking he's going to hit me or something like that. and then he rolls over like he's reaching to the side of the bed or something, and i'm like, he's not fitting to hit me, he's fixing to get a gun. >> reporter: she argues his motive was robbery. she ran away with cash, guns and his car, she eventually anonymously called 911. >> the facts of the case didn't look good. she was at the tail end of three generations of violence against women. >> reporter: in the documentary, the film maker dives deep into her family background. she was given up for adoption very young. berman met her biological mother gina, who had sen toya when she was just 16. >> when i got pregnant i was

drinking. i could drink a bottle that was this big by myself. >> every day? >> every day. >> reporter: tests would show brown was on the fetal alcohol spectrum, a disorder that impact the the brain and behavior. brown also says she was sexually abused as a child, abuse that continued into her teens, both by relatives and strangers. >> that person while i was asleep, i woke up and his [ bleep ] was in my [ bleep ]. he tricked me into it. he was his best friend, and he got me. >> reporter: in allen's murder, brown was eventually charged, tried and convicted as an adult. >> guilty, first degree murder. are yo . >> reporter: in tennessee, that carries a life sentence, 60 years behind bars. even with good behavior, she would have to serve at least 51 years before any chance of parole. >> yeah, it's over now. >> we are the most draconian nation when it comes to how we

handle juveniles with sentencing laws. >> reporter: a pair of rulings found mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional except for rare circumstances. since 2014, at least 24 states have enacted new measures, like requiring reviews of life sentences given to teenagers. tennessee isn't one of them. >> a lot of people, not just? tennessee but across the country believe that the juvenile system needs to be reformed to recognize that juvenile offenders are different than adult offenders. >> reporter: he judged the tcas more than a year ago. >> juveniles' brains are not developed before age 18. the younger they are, the less development they have. >> reporter: one thing that has changed, sex trafficking laws. >> no longer a child arrested for prostitution is wherconside as a prostitutes under tennessee

laws, they are now considered victims of trafficking. that's new. it suggests that if sen toya were arrested today, she would be looked at through a different lens. >> reporter: but at world outside evolved, brown grew up behind bars, at first struggling. >> i think i spent the last two years working on having a personality. i never had one before. >> reporter: she went on to earn her ged. her case got an unexpected boost from hollywood. in 2012, rir rejean anna put he story on instagram. it spread like wild fire,

attracting slo attracting celebrities like alissa alissa milano and kim ca kardashian. kardashian make headlines year after entreating donald trump. >> she has completely rehab tatsed herself. >> reporter: the president granted freedom for johnson. insded of waiting out her sentence, last year the now 30-year-old brown and her lawyers petitioned the tennessee governor to grant her clemency. >> it got a lot of publicity. our job is to look at it on the legal merits and treat it just like every other one. >> reporter: at her hearing, brown acknowledged her crime. >> when i was 16, i did a horrible thing, and i have

carried that with me this whole time. >> reporter: but also pointed to her rehabilitation behind bars. >> i have a college degree now, a family, a whole new community of people who love me, who believe in me, who support me. >> reporter: including the glitter project, a program she developed to help girls who have been trafficked and exploited like she was. >> i've been able to help people, which is amazing. young people, young kids. they listen. >> reporter: she was backed up by witnesses, including teachers and advocates, even a former prosecutor who was in charge of brown's 2008 appeal. >> i argued that she needed to spend the rest of her life in prison. >> reporter: soon after, he became one of her college teachers. >> you grant her early release, she is going to invest herself in people who might otherwise come to this institution. she will seek them out. she will find them.

she will mentor and minister to them, and she will keep other people from coming here. >> i do pray that you show me mercy and that you give me a second chance. >> reporter: brown had to wait more than seven months to find out the governor's answer. clemency granted. >> she was elated, and she started to do an a little dance. >> the moment was electric. >> i do think we made the right decision, but we tried to make it kind of absent all the noise. >> reporter: a spokesperson for johnny allen's family told the media they aren't happy with the decision but hope brown has changed. she will be released in august after serving 15 years in prison instead of 51. dan berman is now working on a sequel to his documentary out later this year focussing on brown and how criminal sentencing, particularly for juveniles needs to change. >> maybe the blindfold of justice can be removed just an a little bit so we can consider bigger perspective for all children.

>> reporter: brown isn't asking the world to forget what she did. >> she would readily admit she committed a crime and that the prison system has saved her life. >> reporter: she says she just wants a chance to help other girls not make the same mistake. >> i can assure you i will not let you down. i won't. i promise. >> our thanks to adrian. and me facing life too, sen toya's fight for freedom will launch in 2019, along with a social justice gain by odyssey impact, shining a light on the juvenile justice system. coming up next, gillette. xt, gillette. ♪

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gillette, the king of male grooming products is using ad dollars to try change male behavior, what some call toxic masculi masculinity in this me too era, but it could be backfiring, causing some to boy cot the brand. >> is this the best a man can get? >> reporter: a brand associate the for decades as ma cheese mow taking a swing. updating its best a man can get slogan in the me too era with a nah ca new call to action, be the best a man can be. >> it's been going on far too long.

>> reporter: encouraging men to take a stand against so-called toxic masculinity. >> we believe in the best for men. >> reporter: it has become the latest spasm in the debate about me too and male behavior. some have come out to support the commercial, arquette. some accuse jill et cetegillett tentation wokeness. many tweeting the #boy cot cot jillijill et cetera while throwing out their razors. >> there's a lot of outcry, can't i just shave my face without having political correctness shoved down my throat?

>> reporter: this commercial is a sha gillette. the brand has long celebrated traditional masculinity, the chiselled man, playing sports or working on wall street. >> the best a man can get. >> reporter: gillette is just the latest to tackle social issues in marketing. >> believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. >> reporter: nike tapped former pro quarterback kcolin kaepernik as it's just do it campaign. >> don't ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if you're crazy enough. >> reporter: the company seeming to take sides in the debate over kneeling for the national anthem which kaepernick started. that immediately sparked controversy. >> sorry, nike. i've been buying you for the past 20-plus years, not anymore.

>> reporter: but nike's move seems to have paid off. the revenue soared after that release. >> it was a calculated risk by nike. they determined that the audience that would be receptive to that message was more important to them than the audience that would not. >> reporter: procter & gamble which owns gillette has not shied away from topics. pantene launched strong is beautiful campaign, encouraging fathers to be more present in daughters' lives. >> it's not enough to run an ad and say our product is the best. you have to get attention and be talked about. >> reporter: dove broke the mold when it introduced real beauty campaign, ads focussed on body positivity. since then, companies have followed with mixed results. >> i want to brew a beer.

>> reporter: budweiser tackled the issue of immigration during the super bowl, with this widely-praised ad from 2017. >> a huge percentage of budweiser drinkers are immigrants to this country, a very calculated choice. >> reporter: but some commercials have notoriously missed the mark. when pepsi released this ad featuring kendall gender, using soda to diffuse tensions between police and protesters, many spoke out. dr. martin luther king's daughter tweeting if only daddy would have known about the power of pepsi. pepsi subsequently apologized and removed the spot. gillette is standing by its spot, writing in part, as a company that encourages men to be their best, we have a responsibility to make sure we ablesive a althy vsiont

mesig qstion now, will men decide that the best they can get is another brand of razor? >> the good news for them is they're getting a lot of free airings of their ad without buying the tv time, but if consequently they lose customers, it probably wasn't a great marketing decision and only time will tell. and coming up next we switch gears gears entirely. our chief meteorologist and her reign over music city. abc news "nightline," sponsored by taltz. sponsored by taltz. ever get in the way?s embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz, the first and only treatment of its kind offering people with moderate to severe psoriasis a chance at 100% clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of people quickly saw

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and finally here tonight, our ginger zee bringing sunshine to the stage. >> let me hear you! >> with just 24 hours to learn her routine, ginger returned to "dancing with the stars" for a one-night event, making her radio city music hall debut by

"dancing with t "dancing with the stars," a night to remember. >> oh! amazing, amazing. >> ginger is incredible. we want to thank you for watching tonight. for full episodes, you can boogie on over to hulu. have a great night. night.

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