cyntoia was granted clemency by former tennessee governor bill haslam in january.he was released from prison this past august. she is now 31 years old come out with her memoir "free cyntoia: my search for redemption in the american prison system." so let's take it to your arrest within 24 hours after you murdered the man who took you home. you were terrified by him. he was going to give you money for sex. you are a teenager. he is showing you his guns. you shoot him. you leave. the police get you. you have no lawyer. talk about what happened in your hearing. expand what a transfer hearing is. and then ultimately, what happened in your trial, how you ended up with life in prison. my arrest, i after was assigned a public defender. in that public defender was part of the juvenile court. it was her job to prepare my case for transfer hearing because the district attorney had actually asked the court to try me as an adult. what they do is come in number one, they find there is probable cause to plead that you committed the offense. the second part of the hearing is dete

after 15 years, cyntoia brown-long was granted clemency by then tennessee governor bill haslam the attention on her case revealing a painful back story it was the moment she prayed for. >> it was like the most amaz >> reporter: but could hardly imagine. >> i could just like exhale. freedom. >> i've sat with people in situations like this, except the difference is they were exonerated they had been wrongfully convicted. that's not your story. >> no, it's not. i'm still a convicted murderer per the law. i won't disappoint you. >> reporter: yet to her supporters, she is looked on as a victim too >> it's been really smooth. >> reporter: at age 16, cyntoia shot and killed a man who had picked her up one night. just weeks earlier she said she had been forced into prostitution by another man. ovs having been raped by different men, you know. >> reporter: in fact, she was being trafficked for sex >> i thought this is my boyfriend. i'm in a relationship. i'm his bonnie he's my clyde and this is just what i'm doing i'm playing a role in a relationsh >> you didn't see yourself as a victim >> not at all

but former tennessee governor bill haslam commuted her sentence.: my search for redemption in the american prison system." earlier this week i had a chance to talk with her. >> thank you for being with us, cyntoia. first of all, you've been a national symbol. you got people that don't agree on politics, but united around you. some of the publicity you were concerned whether it was going to be helpful or not. >> i was. we had received word from the governor's office, from his adviser that some attention was not helpful. you have to think too in a state like tennessee, something that draws a lot of attention from the public, it creates that much more scrutiny. and so i was definitely concerned that it may backfire a bit. but, you know, god worked it out. >> that's what i wanted to talk to you. obviously everybody knows what i do, but the real story that i wanted to talk about is during this time you found god. >> yes. >> and you fell in love, got married. and you really represent what reforming one's self is really all about. you prove what a lot of

former tennessee governor bill haslam told me that tennessee has the highest rate for filling out the fafsa. more students fill it out than in any other state by percentage. but it's still the single biggest impediment to more students enrolling in tennessee promise, which gives them a free community college tuition. the fafsa simplification act will make it easier for families to apply for federal student aid by doing three things. first, it reduces the number of questions on the fafsa from 108 to 17 to 30 questions. second, it will greatly reduce the need for the burdensome verification that i discussed, the process that caused janet's student to drop out of school. east tennessee state university said a third of its applicants, approximately 10,000 students, are selected each year for verification. and, third, this legislation will allow students to find out as early as eighth grade how much pell grant funding they may be eligible for so students can start to plan for college sooner. this result has been five years in the making. in 2014 at a hearing before our senate education com