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A prisoner in upstate New York just has a major stroke of luck.
A falsely convicted man left Wednesday the Buffalo hearing room and left freedom for the first time in nearly three decades – largely thanks to the investigative journalism of Golf Digest magazine.
Valentino Dixon was greeted by bright sunshine, chirping birds, his mother, daughter and other loved ones in Erie's courthouse, after his conviction for a 1991 murder was overturned.
"I like it a lot," shouted Dixon after exchanging junk things he had worn at Attica for jeans and a t-shirt. "He feels good."
While he was incarcerated for 39 years, Dixon regained his childhood love for drawing.
Then one day, a guard offered him a photo of the 12th hole at Augusta National Golf Course, tying Dixon to draw lush greens, hills, bunkers and trees on golf courses.
Dixon became a prolific artist and his work in drawing golf courses drew the attention of Golf Digest magazine in 2012, sparking a series of remarkable events that ended Wednesday after 27 years behind bars.
"It took a hundred drawings before Golf Digest noticed it, but when we did, we also noticed that his belief seemed fragile. So we investigated the case and raised the question of his innocence, "writes Max Adler of the magazine, who has never played.
"The case is complicated, but on the surface, it involves poor police work, no physical evidence linking Dixon, contradictory evidence from unreliable witnesses. . . All together, a fairly clear example of local officials rushing to bar a young black man.
Articles in Golf Digest and in other media have drawn the attention of Georgetown University students working on prison reform issues.
The additional investigation and the work of the appeals lawyers finally led the authorities to recognize that Dixon had not killed 17-year-old Torriano Jackson at the corner of Buffalo Street in 1991.
Lamarr Scott, who is serving 25 years in prison for attempted murder, has admitted to being killed in court.
"There was a fight. Shots were fired. I caught the gun under the bench, I put it in automatic, all the bullets were fired. Unfortunately, Torriano eventually died, "Scott said in court. "I dropped the weapon and I ran and it was over."
Scott said that he had received the crime weapon, a semi-automatic Tec-9, earlier in the day from Dixon.
Justice Susan Eagan upheld Dixon's conviction for possession of firearms – sentenced to five to fifteen years and long gone.
"You are eligible for release today," said Eagan, bringing applause and shouts from supporters of the courtroom.
Even in the win, Donald Thompson, one of Dixon's lawyers, lamented that his client's art has drawn the attention of Golf Digest to win the freedom.
"Once the deal has crossed a certain threshold of media attention, it's important, even if it's not," Thompson told Golf Digest. "It is embarrassing for the legal system that the best presentation of the investigation has been made for a long time by a golf magazine."
Outside the courthouse, Erie County attorney John Flynn insisted that Dixon was not a martyr for justice.
"Mr. Dixon is not an innocent man, make no mistake at all," Flynn told the press after the hearing, calling Dixon "a drug dealer from the city of Buffalo" at the time of the hearing. shooting.
"Mr. Dixon is innocent of the shooting and murder for which he was convicted … but Mr. Dixon brought the weapon to the fight." It was Mr. Dixon's weapon.
Dixon plans to continue drawing and volunteering to help other prisoners who may have been wrongly sentenced.
"If you do not have money in this system, it is difficult to get justice because the system is not equipped or designed to allow a poor to benefit from a fair trial," he said. . "So we have a lot of work ahead of us."
Dixon's daughter, Valentina Dixon, was a baby when her father went to jail. She brought her 14-month-old twins, Ava and Levi, to court to meet their grandfather.
"We will definitely go shopping and go explore life," she said. "I can not wait to give him a cell phone and teach him to Snapchat."
Dixon's mother, Barbara Dixon, said she had been relying on her faith for all these years, praying for Valentino to be confirmed one day.
When asked what the family had planned next, she said, "We go to red lobster and everyone is invited.
With post wires
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