Making an Exoneree - The Story of Valentino Dixon — Transcript

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1. 0:00- It's just a major violation on your soul
2. 0:03to be accused of something that you didn't do.
3. 0:11- [Man] Back in 1991, the area of Bailey and Delavan,
4. 0:16there in the city of Buffalo, was a high crime area.
5. 0:21- I went up to Bailey and Delavan, which was Louies, okay,
6. 0:24which was like a social place to hang out.
7. 0:26Everybody hanged out there on the weekends and at
8. 0:29any given time, it's like 60 people, 100 people out there.
9. 0:33And then I goes into the delicatessen to grab a beer, okay,
10. 0:37I'm reachin down in the cooler and I hear shots,
11. 0:41just that quick, pop, pop, right?
12. 0:44Instead of stayin in the store, I run outta the store
13. 0:47to see what's goin on and this is when I see
14. 0:50Tory and Aaron tusslin with Mario.
15. 0:53More come runnin up and shootin up in the air, okay?
16. 0:57And like everybody started scattering
17. 1:00and I jumped in my car and I left.
18. 1:02Never returned back to the scene, I was gone.
19. 1:07- It was my birthday, so a friend of mine called me
20. 1:11on the phone, they said they're looking for Valentino.
21. 1:15Next thing we know it seemed like a thousand cops came,
22. 1:18drawin their guns, you know, to his head and everywhere.
23. 1:25- When they accused me of this, it hit me so hard, right.
24. 1:29It just killed me and I figured that
25. 1:33it would all work itself out.
26. 1:35When you have that many people hear it,
27. 1:37no way that the truth is not gonna come out
28. 1:39and this thing is gonna get cleared up in a couple days.
29. 1:43- Shortly after, virtually the next day,
30. 1:46somebody else goes on the news and says;
31. 1:49it was me, it wasn't him.
32. 1:51LaMarr Scott confessed to committing the murders
33. 1:55that Valentino Dixon was convicted of.
34. 2:09- Terranova came to visit me one time
35. 2:12and I think the visit lasted 20 minutes.
36. 2:14I met him one time before trial and that was it
37. 2:16and I knew somethin was wrong.
38. 2:18- He didn't talk to no witnesses,
39. 2:20so we goes in there and we're talking
40. 2:24and all of the sudden he just says; get the gun,
41. 2:28go up on the corner, put it underneath a bench.
42. 2:34We's like, how do we know where the gun is?
43. 2:38- They were very disruptive, they were highly emotional
44. 2:41and they were challenging my ability to try the case.
45. 2:49They were challenging my efforts on behalf of their son
46. 2:54without, I said; well, what should I be doing differently?
47. 3:01- Let's speak about the witnesses,
48. 3:04'cause this was their entire case, okay.
49. 3:07So go to John Sullivan.
50. 3:09You're 150 yards away in the dark.
51. 3:11You know what he's wearing?
52. 3:12No.
53. 3:13And he had two beers and some marijuana and cocaine.
54. 3:18- I've had witnesses tell me that
55. 3:19any one of those substances actually enhances
56. 3:22their ability to perceive things.
57. 3:23Witnesses will make those comments;
58. 3:26yeah, I was all coked up, I was seein great.
59. 3:28- Now let's go to the second witness, Emil Adams.
60. 3:30Well here we have an affidavit from
61. 3:33Roger Putnam, private investigator.
62. 3:34I was asked Emil Adams if the testimony he gave
63. 3:37during the trial of Valentino was true.
64. 3:39Emil Adams stated on more than one occasion
65. 3:40that he did not tell the truth.
66. 3:42Okay, witness number three is Aaron Jackson, okay.
67. 3:46He says that I picked off slot number four
68. 3:52and identified that as looking like the person
69. 3:55who shot my brother, Tory and me, but I cannot be sure.
70. 3:59He was there, it happened so quick.
71. 4:01But you don't tell the police that Valentino Dixon
72. 4:03is the shooter, how do we get from that point
73. 4:05to the courtroom here today where you're pointing out
74. 4:08Valentino Dixon as the shooter?
75. 4:10My memory gets better with time.
76. 4:12I was convicted on this testimony.
77. 4:16When he gave me 39 years or whatever he gave me,
78. 4:20I was just, I think I was in space.
79. 4:26- It's undescribable, it really is.
80. 4:31I don't think it will not have mattered
81. 4:33if it was your only child or you had ten kids.
82. 4:38- But in particular, LaMarr Scott's confession
83. 4:41later on, when he's in prison for having shot another guy,
84. 4:47where he say if you'd of believed me in the first place,
85. 4:50maybe this other guys wouldn't have gotten shot.
86. 4:52That seems pretty compelling.
87. 4:54- Valentino Dixon is an innocent man.
88. 4:56- And you knew that eight people
89. 4:58cleared me of the crime, but you didn't care.
90. 5:00How do you discredit all of these people over here
91. 5:02because you wanna get a conviction?
92. 5:04- It's in vogue to be able to say that
93. 5:07we're helping people that were wrongfully convicted.
94. 5:09Even if they act wrongfully convicted,
95. 5:11that's still in vogue.
96. 5:13- I know for myself that Valentino Dixon is innocent
97. 5:17because LaMarr Scott told me personally he did the murder.
98. 5:22- I saw it with my own eyes that it was not
99. 5:27Valentino that shot him, it was LaMarr Scott.
100. 5:30Of course it was cops everywhere that asked me,
101. 5:33my friend, and my god sister,
102. 5:37did we see anything and we were like, no.
103. 5:39Because in the 90s in Buffalo there was a lot of
104. 5:41drug related stuff, shootings, kidnappins.
105. 5:44- Which is irrational fear.
106. 5:47The issue is that if they let the fear overcome
107. 5:52their responsibility as a citizen, then they've also
108. 5:56forfeitted some of their right to be believed as a witness.
109. 6:01(solemn music)
110. 6:07- I'm told I have cancer and I'm like;
111. 6:10what more can a person take?
112. 6:12I just wanna be here to see him get out.
113. 6:16- Let me tell you somethin about my mom.
114. 6:19You can't get a better mother than her.
115. 6:22And I wanna make her proud, I wanna buy her a house,
116. 6:25I wanna get her off that street.
117. 6:27- I hated not being able to just call him
118. 6:29when I had somethin urgent to tell him,
119. 6:31like; Dad, I'm pregnant or I'm about to graduate college.
120. 6:38- I'm so proud of Tina.
121. 6:40I just wanna get out and make her happy.
122. 6:45- His art, God gave him that when he was born,
123. 6:52I was it in him when he was four years old.
124. 6:56I don't even know how he was holdin his fingers.
125. 7:00- Art has been like a spiritual journey for me.
126. 7:03Even in a dark place like this,
127. 7:05beautiful things can emerge and be created.
128. 7:07Let me say this, without the artwork,
129. 7:09without the praying, I'm probably in solitary confinement
130. 7:13with a lot of guys with my type of time in.
131. 7:15A lot of things that I want to do
132. 7:16and I don't have a lot of time to do it.
133. 7:18I'm gonna be the best granddad in the world.
134. 7:25- This is pardon application right here, and this is
135. 7:28a commutation of sentence application right here.
136. 7:30I have read through both documents.
137. 7:34As a human being, when you read through this case,
138. 7:39you say to yourself obviously;
139. 7:43well geez, this doesn't seem right here.
140. 7:47If in fact, Mr Thompson and Mr Rosenthal
141. 7:52do in fact submit another 440 motion,
142. 7:56I can assure Mr Dixon and his family
143. 8:01that I will review that thoroughly, I will be fair,
144. 8:06and I will use all wisdom that I have
145. 8:11to give Mr Dixon a fair opportunity and a fair review
146. 8:17on anything that he submits in front of me.
147. 8:23- I'm gonna make a change,
148. 8:27for once in my life, I'm gonna make a difference.
149. 8:31I'm gonna make it right.
150. 8:34That's what stand up for justice means.
151. 8:37It's deeper than trying to fix the wrongs already made.
152. 8:40It's teaching our youth not to make the mistakes
153. 8:43that we made, that's what a reform is.
154. 8:47Reformation, change, do you stand for justice?
155. 8:52Do you honor evolution?
156. 8:56Just like the time periods, we must evolve
157. 8:59and make changes in our society for the better.
158. 9:02(light music)