FULL INTERVIEW: Valentino Dixon talks about being a free man — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01A few months ago Mhm. Where were we?
2. 0:04In Wendy Correctional Facility. And you
3. 0:05told me what? Told you that I was
4. 0:07innocent
5. 0:08of these charges.
6. 0:10And um
7. 0:12that I was just, you know, looking for
8. 0:14justice.
9. 0:15Hoping that justice came.
10. 0:17You were very clear about talking about
11. 0:20the injustices that you felt, you saw.
12. 0:24And you couldn't understand
13. 0:25why prosecutors at that point never
14. 0:30would give you a hearing. What do you
15. 0:31think changed?
16. 0:33What what changed was John Flynn. You
17. 0:35know, it's the it's it's all the
18. 0:36difference in whatever
19. 0:38DA is in at the time. Cuz we had three
20. 0:41DAs that, you know, looked into this
21. 0:43case and it didn't go anywhere. You
22. 0:45know, John Flynn actually put some
23. 0:47effort into trying to, you know,
24. 0:49ascertain the truth and it made all the
25. 0:51difference in the world. What do you
26. 0:52think that new evidence was that really
27. 0:54took it over the top? Well,
28. 0:56basically interviewing the witnesses and
29. 0:58getting down to what really happened
30. 1:00here. It which never happened before.
31. 1:03You know,
32. 1:04I don't think the new evidence played
33. 1:06such a big part as them more of them
34. 1:08interviewing the witnesses
35. 1:11extensively and then determining that he
36. 1:13didn't do this crime.
37. 1:15Lamar Scott, when he was in court before
38. 1:17you got before you came in court,
39. 1:19mentioned that he had the gun but the
40. 1:21gun came from you.
41. 1:22Mhm.
42. 1:23You would you would agree with that.
43. 1:27If you can't answer it, if you can't
44. 1:28that's fine.
45. 1:29So
46. 1:30by him having his day, going before the
47. 1:33court and saying something, what does
48. 1:35that mean to you? Well, that's
49. 1:37it means a lot. But let me just say
50. 1:38this, Claudine. What what, you know,
51. 1:41what's not settling to me is this,
52. 1:43right?
53. 1:44You a notary died and that's a bad thing
54. 1:46for anybody to pass away. You know, but
55. 1:49Aaron Jackson to this day is still
56. 1:52stating that they it was a fist fight.
57. 1:54You know, and that's not what happened
58. 1:55out there. You know, these guys, you
59. 1:57know, they made threats during the week,
60. 1:59they pulled pulled out guns, you know,
61. 2:02and then they came on the scene
62. 2:03shooting.
63. 2:04You know, and then said it was a fist
64. 2:06fight after that, you know. And that's
65. 2:08what's really bothering to me, you know.
66. 2:11Um Do you want to see Aaron? No, I don't
67. 2:13want to see Aaron because Aaron is never
68. 2:15going to admit what happened here. You
69. 2:17know, his brother passed away. I think
70. 2:19he feels bad that he went home and got
71. 2:20his brother and he's not going to admit
72. 2:22that they went home and they came back
73. 2:24shooting.
74. 2:25You know, and that actually, you know,
75. 2:27Lamar Scott had to run down the street
76. 2:30to Mario's house to get the gun. You
77. 2:32know, this goes to show you that, you
78. 2:34know, whether it was Lamar, me, Leonard
79. 2:37Brown, nobody wanted any problems. Okay?
80. 2:40And when the first shots went off, I was
81. 2:42in the store. You know, and I ran out of
82. 2:44the store and I see these guys got the
83. 2:46gun towards Mario. At the same time,
84. 2:48Lamar is coming from Mario's house with
85. 2:50the gun because they had the gun down
86. 2:52the street, the gun was put up, you
87. 2:54know, and he ran down the street to get
88. 2:56the gun only to help Mario. You know,
89. 2:58and this is facts and truths that's
90. 3:00never came out, you know.
91. 3:03So now what? Because you're coming back
92. 3:06Mhm. to Buffalo. Right. You're going
93. 3:08back to the same neighborhood. On your
94. 3:10way to your mom's house, you're going to
95. 3:11go past that same corner
96. 3:14that landed you in prison. So how do you
97. 3:17help?
98. 3:18Well, when I how I help is is to try to
99. 3:20reach these youths.
100. 3:22Okay? And try to help with prison reform
101. 3:24cuz there's been a lot of like prison
102. 3:26rhetoric, you know, with prison reform
103. 3:28and there's no solid um
104. 3:31solution here. Okay? And my solution for
105. 3:34prison reform is to reduce the
106. 3:35sentencing laws. Okay? The sentencing
107. 3:37laws are outrageous, especially in New
108. 3:39York State. You're giving people double
109. 3:41time, you know, for the littlest
110. 3:44infraction, you know, like for example,
111. 3:47O.J. Simpson in Nevada, they gave him 33
112. 3:49years
113. 3:51but he got out in 9 years.
114. 3:53Okay? In New York State, there's none of
115. 3:55that, you know, you don't get a day for
116. 3:56a day or anything like that, you know,
117. 3:58and you have 9,000 inmates that's over
118. 4:01the age of 65, you know, that um
119. 4:05a lot of them deserve their freedom.
120. 4:07Okay? There's a man named John McKenzie
121. 4:10who committed suicide. He was 70 years
122. 4:12old because the parole board denied him
123. 4:1310 times.
124. 4:15Okay? And I've seen this over and over
125. 4:18from countless individuals who is it's
126. 4:20almost like the parole board in Albany
127. 4:23and the politicians are trying to keep
128. 4:25the numbers up. It's like it's a numbers
129. 4:26game, you know, and um
130. 4:30you know, it's sad, you know, because
131. 4:32you know, in the process, you're in my
132. 4:34opinion, you're violating people's civil
133. 4:36rights, human rights, and constitutional
134. 4:39rights.
135. 4:39Did you ever think this day would come?
136. 4:40Do you did you ever think you would get
137. 4:42out?
138. 4:42I always felt this day would come but I
139. 4:44didn't know when.
140. 4:46Okay? Because God always sent me the
141. 4:48signs, you know. Every time I was in the
142. 4:50funk or I felt like, you know, I can't
143. 4:53do any go any longer, you know, God
144. 4:57always sent somebody to help, a
145. 4:59interview, a school, a lawyer, you know,
146. 5:02some type of media outlet because the
147. 5:04media, to be honest with you, was my
148. 5:06only
149. 5:07um
150. 5:09Your avenue. Yeah, the only avenue to
151. 5:11get my, you know, case out there, you
152. 5:14know, the media, you know. When you were
153. 5:16standing before the judge today and that
154. 5:18judge said that you were basically
155. 5:21exonerated right. What was that feeling
156. 5:23like?
157. 5:24Um
158. 5:26I didn't see tears.
159. 5:27I know. It it was mixed feelings, you
160. 5:31know,
161. 5:32uh because of the gun situation,
162. 5:34you know, and um
163. 5:37so I didn't know how to feel, you know.
164. 5:39But I'm going to write the judge a
165. 5:40letter and thank her, you know. Um
166. 5:44I have to be grateful.
167. 5:45No ifs, ands, or buts about it, you
168. 5:47know. I'm going to write John Flynn a
169. 5:49letter and thank him because, you know,
170. 5:51not all DAs, judges, or prosecutors have
171. 5:54the integrity or the honor to fix a
172. 5:56situation that's wrong, you know, cuz
173. 5:59it's looked down upon amongst colleagues
174. 6:01in the office, you know, leave that case
175. 6:03alone. Why are you even bothering with
176. 6:05it? You know, and I know this is what
177. 6:06they had to deal with and they're going
178. 6:07to have to deal with it afterwards. So
179. 6:10um
180. 6:11I know that my goal is to all my
181. 6:14supporters, all of these people that
182. 6:16love me is to make them proud, you know.
183. 6:19And
184. 6:20I believe I'm going to do that, you
185. 6:21know. But, you know, words where you
186. 6:23know
187. 6:25words are cheap, action is everything.
188. 6:27Okay?
189. 6:28Um
190. 6:30And
191. 6:31And I'm seeing your mom and your
192. 6:32daughter to actually truly
193. 6:35hug them and hold them and your
194. 6:36grandkids.
195. 6:37Describe that feeling.
196. 6:38That's the best feeling in the world.
197. 6:40You know, I just look forward to doing a
198. 6:42lot of things that don't necessarily
199. 6:44cost money but just spending time with
200. 6:46them, you know. I like to cook so I'm
201. 6:48going to do a lot of cooking, you know,
202. 6:51and just spend quality time, you know,
203. 6:52where it's the world is everybody's
204. 6:54moving around so fast so they don't
205. 6:56really have time to plant their feet
206. 6:57nowhere, you know. And one thing I've
207. 6:59I've I've I've I've observed is that I
208. 7:02don't want to live that way, okay? You
209. 7:04know, uh
210. 7:06I'm going to devote a lot of time to my
211. 7:08artwork. I'm going to get try to get a
212. 7:10good gallery to manage me or back me.
213. 7:13Then I can just spend time on artwork
214. 7:15and then I can just spend time with the
215. 7:16family. I don't have no desire to do
216. 7:18nothing else.
217. 7:20The past is the past.
218. 7:21is the past, you know, no clubbing, none
219. 7:24of that stuff, you know what I'm saying
220. 7:25to me.
221. 7:26You know, no, none of that stuff, you
222. 7:27know.
223. 7:28You know, I can't wait to go fishing
224. 7:30with my daughters. I can't wait to have
225. 7:31a barbecue and, you know, um
226. 7:35so within the next
227. 7:37week or so, we're going to get started.
228. 7:39You know, one just one moment at a time.
229. 7:42It's just trying to collect as many
230. 7:43memories as possible. Anything else you
231. 7:45want to say for now before we go?
232. 7:46Um
233. 7:47No, except for that our great governor
234. 7:49because I do believe Cuomo is a good
235. 7:51governor, you know, and if pushed
236. 7:54or, you know, if
237. 7:56if with the right support, if the if the
238. 7:58prison advocates could just come
239. 8:00together and put the egos aside, you
240. 8:02know, I believe that he will pass some
241. 8:04type of bill, you know, to make, you
242. 8:06know, it better or more fair in New York
243. 8:11State because the sentencing laws are
244. 8:13too harsh and too excessive, you know,
245. 8:15and
246. 8:16Yeah. Yeah, and I want to be able to
247. 8:17appeal to him, you know, and
248. 8:20I really want to be able to bring people
249. 8:22together, you know, so we can be one
250. 8:24solid structure because, you know, you
251. 8:27have a lot of people spread out and
252. 8:29nothing is getting accomplished, you
253. 8:30know.