* Long post. Going to explain my thinking on this case. Feel free to disregard or scroll past if desired!
I agree with Mickey's post above. CB was conceived by a 16 year old unable/ unwilling to mother her. She was adopted at age 2 by a woman who, at least on the surface, appears to have given CB every opportunity she had available to live a stable, secure childhood. When CB began having very serious trouble at school (violently attacking teachers and other students), involved with the juvenile justice system for committing various crimes (such as breaking into homes to steal valuables and jewelry at age 12 to buy drugs), this same adoptive mother repeatedly stood by her, and worked with social services and juvenile justice to get CB help. This included extensive treatment for chemical dependency at age 13, and placement in an alternative school setting prior to that.
At about age 14, she entered a court mandated long term residential juvenile center (incarceration). When released at the end of her 15th year, she ran away from home and did not participate in post release supervision, services, or schooling.
CB was engaging in sex for money/ drugs on her own BEFORE she met McGlothien (“Cut throat”) at age 16. She was couch surfing, staying anywhere she could get drugs, a meal, a place to stay. Yes, she was “underage”, but she was most definitely not “a child” in any way at that point in time. She had voluntarily dropped out of school and left home. In another set of circumstances, she could have petitioned the court to be emancipated. Most social services and foster placement wanes around age 16, as these teens age out of services and placement for children. The goal at that point is preparing the teen for independence. They are not children at age 16.
IMO, the term “child” should not apply to any adolescent over the age of 12 or 13—but many online like to label any teenage minor they perceive to be a victim as a “child”, so they appear more sympathetic or vulnerable. Conversely, a hated, reviled perpetrator at age 16 or 17 is universally considered an adult for their actions, particularly first degree murder (such as Tyler Hadley, who viciously and unprovoked, attacked and murdered his parents in their home with a claw hammer. He went on to host a big party in the same house a few hours later.)
IMO, CB “used” McGlothien as much as he “used” her—their association was entirely mutual, IMO, from all that can be gleaned online. GM was definitely a terrible, drug addicted, criminal human being, and likely did engage in “domestic abuse” with CB, but I would not characterize him as a “pedophile” or a “pimp.”
CB and GM both had extensive drug habits, and CB selling sex was how they funded and fueled their mutual habit. He didn’t introduce her to prostitution—she was doing that before she met him. He didn’t introduce her to drugs—by her own admission, and court documents, she was chemically dependent for many years before she met him, and was a continuous daily user of many substances. He was a criminal degenerate, IMO, but their association was completely mutual.
IMO, CB was not “sex trafficked”. I think they did have violent episodes between them, but she was not a “slave”, nor was she tied up or otherwise prevented from leaving him. This is not a sex slave victim like Elizabeth Smart, kidnapped from her home and bed, or the Cleveland women chained and held captive for a decade, or Jaycee Dugard, also kidnapped from the bus stop and held captive as a sex slave for a decade. These situations are not in any way equivalent to the lifestyle choices of CB. They are true victims, IMO. CB and her life choices are sad and unfortunate, but she's not a victim, IMO. There is a very big difference.
By her own admission, GM provided her with the .40 cal handgun and ammunition she carried. She had the means and opportunity to escape from GM or JA—by her own admission. She kept going back to GM. She was not “brainwashed” into going back—she went back because he provided her with what she thought she wanted: drugs, shelter, protection, and a reason not to go back to her adoptive mother and social services.
GM was murdered during her prosecution, so was unable to give any testimony. Therefore, we only have CB’s characterization of GM’s role and behavior toward her, and IMO, CB’s word is simply not enough with the evidence we have, for me to believe he “sex trafficked” her. He was her BF— but I can’t characterize his role as that of a pimp or pedophile, which he is often called online and in celebrity and media comments. He was a horrible, nasty, awful human being, and I’m not at all sad he’s dead, but he wasn’t a pimp, a pedo, or a sex trafficker, IMO. She was not kidnapped from her home and forced into sex or prostitution. She quite willingly engaged in this behavior, by her own admission. Whether she was legally “old enough” to be charged with prostitution is beside the point—and those charges were dropped. The fact is that she DID sell herself for sex, by her own admission—she was not “forced” into this lifestyle at all.
She never had sex with the man she killed, JA—by her own admission. He did not rape her—by her own admission. JA was a terrible and criminal human being also, but did not “purchase” her from anyone. He didn’t prevent her from leaving.
And he was not a pedophile either—by her own admission she never told him, or GM, that she was under age. Her physical appearance (prior to the pigtails in court) did not appear to be a pre-pubescent child. And IMO, I don’t think she has FAS, or any kind of *treatable* mental disorder. I think she is likely a borderline personality, as the forensic psychologist determined, and possibly an antisocial personality (sociopath) as well. Those are not treatable conditions—they can be monitored and supervised, but not treated with any effective mental health care or medications. She is highly intelligent and extremely manipulative by many separate reports over the years.
I think it’s terrible that any person was born into the situation CB was. But plenty are, and don’t end up going down the path CB did, and ending up committing casual murder. Some do. She had many positive chances others do not. She had an adoptive mother who made a good and stable home for her.
CB made one bad decision after another after another after another. She had MANY opportunities to get help, make different decisions, go down a different path. She had many opportunities to escape from the bad decisions and bad people she sought out. When she met JA, she had a large caliber handgun and ammunition she could have used to get away from the bad lifestyle and bad people, and gone to police or her adoptive mother to begin again. She had many choices, and she always made the worst ones she possibly could. That’s too bad—her own decisions have landed her with the consequences she currently has. Nothing at all about the murder, and her actions after is “self defense”, IMO.
And bear in mind, her sentence could have/ should have been much worse! She had a number of breaks during the prosecution and sentencing that actually lowered her sentence.
So now, 13 years after she casually killed a man who was not an imminent threat to her, stole guns, money, and a truck from him, we are supposed to overlook every aspect of her behavior that led up to that moment? We are supposed to forgive her for everything and pardon her……because….why?? Because she is “of color”? Because she is a female? Because she is pretty and articulate? Because she got an associate’s degree in prison, and volunteers in programs to better herself and others? Because she was costumed to look very young, innocent, and cute in her pigtails in court pictures from 2006? Because she was 16 and “underage” when she committed all these crimes?
A pardon would not be justice, IMO. I could possibly agree with re-sentencing of 30-40 year sentence, with possibility of parole after 85% served. As Mickey said above, she has no skills to live as an adult on the outside, and programs to help her are few and far between. Thankfully, she hasn't produced any children, and hopefully never will. For now, she is where she belongs, IMO.
