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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Jay Harrison. I've had over twenty years of experience as

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Speaker 1: a journalist and sportscaster, hosting a variety of ESPN shows

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Speaker 1: from Sports Center to Outside the Lines. But on this podcast,

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Speaker 1: I do less straight up commentary and more squeezing juice

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Speaker 1: from the biggest sports scandals in history. That is, it's

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Speaker 1: not easy to quench your thirst for the inside scoop.

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Speaker 1: But hey, all in a day's work, right, I love

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Speaker 1: my job. I love scooping and stirring up the facts

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Speaker 1: to serve you a sensational story with some real depth.

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Speaker 1: I'm a lucky guy. After all, only forty nine percent

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Speaker 1: of Americans are satisfied with their job according to the

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Speaker 1: Pew Research Center. And you know who I'm thinking really

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Speaker 1: really didn't enjoy their job within that other fifty one percent,

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Speaker 1: the jurors in the Marcus Dixon case. You remember where

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Speaker 1: we left off in the last episode of Playing Dirty, right,

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old black football sensation Marcus Dixon, who had

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Speaker 1: believed himself to be on an unstoppable path to playing

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Speaker 1: for the Vanderbilt Commodorees on a full scholarship, was instead

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Speaker 1: fighting for his freedom in court after being accused by

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Speaker 1: fifteen year old white sophomore Christie Brown of rape, and

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Speaker 1: the prosecution, led by Floyd County DA John McClellan, had

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Speaker 1: made some strong points for the jury's consideration. Christy was

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Speaker 1: under the state age of consent, had bruising by all accounts,

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Speaker 1: hadn't known Marcus well at all prior to the sexual

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Speaker 1: act taking place on February ten, two thousand and three,

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Speaker 1: and would arguably have been unlikely to lose her virginity

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Speaker 1: during a janitorial shift in a worn down school trailer. Plus,

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Speaker 1: Marcus had two prior incidents of sexual misbehavior on his record.

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Speaker 1: He'd been suspended for exposing himself in a classroom in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and one, and had shoved his hands down

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Speaker 1: the pants of a fourteen year old girl after track

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Speaker 1: practice in two thousand and two. For Marcus's defense, attorney

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Speaker 1: David Bauser had also pulled out all the stops, countering

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Speaker 1: each of the prosecution's points with valid reasons why the

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Speaker 1: threshold necessary to constitute Marcus's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt

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Speaker 1: had not been met. Christie's vaginal bruising could have been

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Speaker 1: caused by rough consensual sex rather than rape. Her father

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Speaker 1: was alleged to be racist and therefore could have manipulated

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Speaker 1: a testimony, and just because Marcus had prior sexual defenses

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Speaker 1: didn't necessarily mean that his behavior had progressed to rape.

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Speaker 1: In fact, ninety seven percent of sex offenders don't repeat

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Speaker 1: offend within three years. The jurors in Marcus Dixon's trial

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Speaker 1: had an unenviable job because, regardless of plasolitical and social views,

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Speaker 1: which vary and can be incredibly polarizing, one thing everyone

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Speaker 1: can agree on is that at least one teenager in

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Speaker 1: this tale was fated to receive the short end of

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Speaker 1: the stick of justice. So we're back in the courtroom

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Speaker 1: on May fourteenth, two thousand and three, waiting alongside the

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Speaker 1: presiding Judge, Walter J. Matthews, to hear what the jury determined.

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Speaker 1: The four person rose and announced that the jury found

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Speaker 1: Marcus not guilty of rape, sexual battery, aggravated assault, and

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Speaker 1: false imprisonment. Marcus, his family, and his legal team breathed

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Speaker 1: an audible sigh of relief, but it was short lived

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Speaker 1: because the four person continued saying the jury found Marcus

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Speaker 1: Diixon guilty of both statutory rape and aggravated child molestation.

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Speaker 1: Rape and statutory rape are very different charges. To be clear,

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Speaker 1: Rape involves non consensual sex with a person who was

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Speaker 1: otherwise legally able to consent, meaning that rape often requires

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Speaker 1: the use of threats, fraud, or force. Statutory rape, on

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Speaker 1: the other hand, involves sex with a person who was

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Speaker 1: not able to legally consent because they are below the

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Speaker 1: age of consent. So even if the sex is consensual,

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Speaker 1: if a person under the legal age of consent is involved,

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Speaker 1: the sex at constitutes statutory rape for the older participant.

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Speaker 1: What the jury in the Marcus Dixon case ruled was

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Speaker 1: that statutory rape had occurred due to Christie's age, but

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Speaker 1: they believed the sex to be consensual. So what did

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Speaker 1: these charges mean from Marcus. Well, Marcus was bound to

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Speaker 1: be charged with statutory rape in any event due to

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Speaker 1: the irrefutable fact that Christy was just too young to

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Speaker 1: lawfully engage in sexual intercourse. She was a couple of

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Speaker 1: weeks shy of her sixteenth birthday when the sex occurred,

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Speaker 1: putting her under the legal age of consent for the

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Speaker 1: state of Georgia. But given Marcus his age just two

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Speaker 1: and a half years older, than Christy himself, and how

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Speaker 1: close Christy was to her sixteenth birthday. The statutory rape

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Speaker 1: charge would be a misdemeanor, and while a misdemeanor certainly

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Speaker 1: isn't helpful to have on your record, it doesn't typically

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Speaker 1: end football careers. In fact, based on a study that

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Speaker 1: looked at the criminal records of NFL players from two

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Speaker 1: thousand to two thousand and nine, about twenty four percent

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Speaker 1: of players have been arrested at least once for a

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Speaker 1: wide variety of reasons, and eighteen percent have a criminal record.

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Speaker 1: But the aggravated child molestation charge, well, that would reshape

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon's life. An agonizing week went by while Marcus

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Speaker 1: waited to hear the judge's sentence. His legal team likely

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Speaker 1: told him all of the potential outcomes. Even so, the

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Speaker 1: shock when the sentence was announced, even for Marcus's highly

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Speaker 1: experienced defense attorney, David Balzer, must have been profound. At sentencing,

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Speaker 1: Judge Walter J. Matthews declared the minimum sentence for aggravated

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Speaker 1: child molestation is ten years. In addition to the prison sentence,

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Speaker 1: I am adding five years which may be served on probation.

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Speaker 1: What this meant is that Marcus Dixon was not going

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Speaker 1: to be on the gridiron at Vanderbilt. Marcus Dixon would

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Speaker 1: spend the next ten years of his young life in prison,

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Speaker 1: labeled a child sex offender. Now I need all of

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Speaker 1: you to do me a favor. I need you to focus,

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Speaker 1: like green juice guzzling level focus. Your personal thoughts about

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Speaker 1: what did or did not happen between Marcus and Christie

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Speaker 1: on February tenth, two thousand and three have to be

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Speaker 1: put to one side for the moment. I know that

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Speaker 1: this is very difficult. We're hardwired to latch onto our heartfelt,

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Speaker 1: empathetic beliefs. A University of Virginia study conducted in two

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Speaker 1: twenty thirteen all but confirm this. And of course, my

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Speaker 1: request is especially tough here because the truth is always

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Speaker 1: of the utmost importance. Of course it is. But the

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Speaker 1: reality is that we are never going to know with

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent certainty what happened between these two teenagers.

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Speaker 1: The truth has proved elusive in the Marcus Dixon case

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Speaker 1: now for more than two decades. So it's crucial to

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Speaker 1: park personal speculation to focus on what we do know

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Speaker 1: with certainty, And what we know is that at this

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Speaker 1: point in the Marcus Dixon story, the scandal shifts away

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Speaker 1: from what did or did not actually happen and instead

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Speaker 1: moves to the actual sentence. The severity of Marcus Dixon's

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Speaker 1: sentence was shocking even to the jurors who had found

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Speaker 1: him guilty. In fact, almost immediately after his sentencing, five

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Speaker 1: of the nine jurors from Marcus Dixon's trial actively and

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Speaker 1: very publicly campaigned for his conviction to be dismiss and

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Speaker 1: for the apparent loophole in Georgia's child protection laws to

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Speaker 1: be changed. Juror Kathy Tippett said, I wanted to call

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Speaker 1: his parents and tell them we had made a mistake.

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Speaker 1: You see, the severity of the sentence was a consequence

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Speaker 1: of Georgia's sentencing laws implemented in nineteen ninety five during

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Speaker 1: a Law and order session led by then Governor Zell Miller.

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Speaker 1: The legislation, known as the Seven Deadly Sins Law, imposed

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Speaker 1: rigid sentencing guidelines for serious offenses, including a minimum ten

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Speaker 1: year prison term for crimes like kidnapping, rape, aggravated sodomy,

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Speaker 1: aggravated sexual battery, armed robbery, and of course, the more

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Speaker 1: severe of the two charges that applied to Marcus Dixon

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Speaker 1: aggravated child molestation. An immediate firestorm of controversy exploded around

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon's scandalous sentence. The jury had unanimously declared that

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Speaker 1: Marcus had not committed forcible rape. In other words, they

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Speaker 1: did not believe Christie's story of a violent attack. So

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Speaker 1: why then, would the law mandate Marcus pay such a

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Speaker 1: harsh penalty for sex that a jury verdict said was consensual.

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Speaker 1: Could that really have been the intent of the Georgia

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Speaker 1: legislature when they passed the rules in nineteen ninety five.

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Speaker 1: Marcus's defense attorney, David Balser, didn't think so, and he

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Speaker 1: didn't miss a beat. An appeal was promptly filed to

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Speaker 1: overturn Marcus's sentence. The first appeal failed, and so David

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Speaker 1: Ballser pushed onwards, filing appeal for consideration by Georgia's Supreme Court,

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Speaker 1: just as they had gathered the evening before his initial trial.

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon's family and supporters, now including several prominent political leaders,

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Speaker 1: participated in a large prayer meeting the night before his

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Speaker 1: appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. Among those present was

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Speaker 1: Matt Towry, an American political analyst and Polster television commentator,

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Speaker 1: attorney and former Georgia state legislator who actually helped craft

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Speaker 1: the Child Protection Act of nineteen ninety five. This specific

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Speaker 1: legislation used to sentence people convicted of aggravated child molestation.

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Speaker 1: He said, the Marcus Dixon situation was not the intent

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Speaker 1: of those laws. The law was designed to protect kids

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Speaker 1: against really, really bad people doing very bad things. Matt

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Speaker 1: tower stated, I still feel the responsibility so many years

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Speaker 1: later that had turned out the way it did. Matt

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Speaker 1: Towery has said again and again that when the law

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Speaker 1: was written in nineteen ninety five, it was meant to

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Speaker 1: strengthen laws against adult child molesters. The law was never

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Speaker 1: meant to be used against teens engaging in consensual sex acts.

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Speaker 1: Both the prosecution and the defense were allowed twenty minutes

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Speaker 1: to make their case to the Georgia Supreme Court justices

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Speaker 1: for or against an appeal of Marcus Dixon's sentence. Now

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Speaker 1: keep in mind that the normal rules of court protocol

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Speaker 1: are different in a supreme court, so this process was

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Speaker 1: not like Marcus's previous trial. Justices are allowed to interrupt

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Speaker 1: the attorneys on both sides with questions and are allowed

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Speaker 1: to cut to the chase to get specific questions addressed.

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Speaker 1: Defense attorney David Baser opened his appeal to the Georgia

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court with a strong singular claim that Marcus's sentence

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Speaker 1: constituted cruel and unusual punishment, since no other Georgia teenager

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Speaker 1: had ever been prosecuted for child molestation under the new laws,

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Speaker 1: and as we discussed in the last episode of Playing Dirty,

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Speaker 1: Marcus certainly wasn't the first teenager to have sex without

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Speaker 1: consideration for the law, a law which, let's face it,

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Speaker 1: he may or may not have been aware of as

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Speaker 1: an eighteen year old focused on football and grades. During

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Speaker 1: David Baser's twenty minutes of the hearing, different judges naturally

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Speaker 1: wanted different issues addressed and clarified. At one point, he

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Speaker 1: was asked about how much leniency the lower court was

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Speaker 1: allowed by law and sentencing. David Baalser answered that the

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Speaker 1: District Attorney for the prosecution, John McClellan, did have the

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Speaker 1: option of leniency, but chose to aggressively prosecute Marcus under

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Speaker 1: the more serious of the two sentences. In other words,

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Speaker 1: pursuing Marcus for felony aggravated child molestation instead of misdemeanor

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Speaker 1: statutory rape. Marcus's attorney went on to assert that it

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Speaker 1: was inconsistent with Georgia legal precedent and that the prosecution

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Speaker 1: pursuing Marcus for aggravated child molestation had left the judge

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Speaker 1: with no choice but to levy the ten year sentence

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Speaker 1: per George's nineteen ninety five seven Deadly Sins law. In

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Speaker 1: determining whether a sentence is cruel and unusual, what you

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Speaker 1: have to do is look at society's view of the

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Speaker 1: conduct at issue here. David Baser exclaimed near the end

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Speaker 1: of his time before the court, the ten year sentence

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Speaker 1: imposed on Marcus Dixon in this case for engaging in

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Speaker 1: non rape sexual intercourse between an eighteen year old and

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Speaker 1: a fifteen and a half year old so deviates from

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Speaker 1: society's view of this conduct and so shocks the conscience

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Speaker 1: that the court should reverse the decision and find that

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Speaker 1: the punishment has applied on the facts of this case

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Speaker 1: violates the constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, and

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Speaker 1: with that, Marcus Dixon's attorney rested, waiting to hear how

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Speaker 1: the prosecution would counter but before Floyd District Attorney John

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Speaker 1: McClellan even reached the podium for his statement, one Justice

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Speaker 1: began her questioning, let me ask you this question before

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Speaker 1: you even get started. Does the state contend that this defended,

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Speaker 1: if there had been no injury, could have been charged

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Speaker 1: with and convicted of child molestation? Yes, your honor, replied

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Speaker 1: John McClellan. There is nothing that would have prevented him

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Speaker 1: from being charged with or convicted of child molestation. So

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Speaker 1: anytime there is consensual sex between teenagers who fall within

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Speaker 1: the right legal parameters, there is the possibility that one

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Speaker 1: or both could be charged with child molestation. The Justice

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Speaker 1: push for clarity. Yes, your honor, replied John McLellan. The

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Speaker 1: female justice was increasingly incredulous. So even if she were

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Speaker 1: fifteen and a half and he were sixteen and a half,

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Speaker 1: you could have charged him with cheam was There is

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Speaker 1: absolutely nothing in the child molestation statute that would have

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Speaker 1: restricted the state's rights to charge him with child molestation,

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Speaker 1: replied John McClellan. At this point, for most people in

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Speaker 1: attendance at the appeal, the prosecution's logic beggared belief. The

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Speaker 1: Justice continued to pursue John McClellan for some semblance of sense.

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Speaker 1: So if a seventeen year old is with a fifteen

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Speaker 1: and a half year old, or maybe she's two or

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Speaker 1: three days away from turning sixteen, and they're petting, and

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Speaker 1: the parents come in and find them, he could be

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Speaker 1: charged with child molestation, she asked, Yes, your honor, replied

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Speaker 1: John McLellan. And then a final question from the persistent

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Speaker 1: astounded justice. What if there is some pressure applied and

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Speaker 1: there are some bruises, he could receive ten years? Yes,

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Speaker 1: your honor, under the way the current statute is written,

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Speaker 1: he could, said John McClellan. In other words, beware of

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Speaker 1: sending your kids to prom Apparently, given the wrong teenage

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Speaker 1: or a hickey could land your child ten years behind

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Speaker 1: bars under this law. Having turned heads with the unrelenting

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Speaker 1: severity of the prosecution's approach to the Marcus Dixon case,

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Speaker 1: John McClellan spent most of his twenty minutes in the

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Speaker 1: Georgia's Supreme Court trying to defend his claim that Marcus's

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Speaker 1: sentence was appropriate, arguing that there was some disagreement between

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Speaker 1: jurors about whether Christy had in fact been raped, and

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Speaker 1: while he admitted that the jury did, in fact, unanimously

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Speaker 1: find Marcus not guilty of rape. John McClellan argued that

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Speaker 1: because there had been some alleged disagreement between some jurists

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Speaker 1: to arrive at that verdict, in his opinion, that opened

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Speaker 1: the ethical door for the prosecution for him to ask

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Speaker 1: for the harsher punishment. Wow, it's hard to watch down

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Speaker 1: that statement from the prosecution. Huh. And if you think

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Speaker 1: that you just cleansed your palette a little with at

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Speaker 1: last sip, then think again, because I haven't even dished

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Speaker 1: out the dash of hypocrisy yet. And John McClellan's final

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Speaker 1: moments addressing the Georgia Supreme Court, he discussed how much

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Speaker 1: leeway the courts had in sentencing Marcus Dixon or other

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Speaker 1: people accused of crimes. He asserted that he had no

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Speaker 1: choice but to prosecute Marcus Dixon for aggravated child molestation.

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Speaker 1: Two of the justices couldn't hide their contempt. Have you

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Speaker 1: ever plea bargained the case? One justice asked him sarcastically.

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Speaker 1: Then the other justice, practically eye rolling, noted that the

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Speaker 1: entire concept of plea bargaining something that John McLellan admitted

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Speaker 1: to doing routinely is based on the notion of sentencing discretion.

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Speaker 1: On Monday May third, two thousand and four, the High

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Speaker 1: Court overturned the aggravated child molestation convicted against Marcus Dixon

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Speaker 1: in a four to three ruling. In issuing the majority opinion,

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Speaker 1: Chief Justice Norman Fletcher said that Marcus Dixon should have

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Speaker 1: been punished only for the lesser crime, the misdemeanor of

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Speaker 1: statutory rape, but since Marcus had already served a year

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Speaker 1: in prison, he had served sufficient time for that crime.

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Speaker 1: Chief Justice Norman Fletcher went on to say that lawmakers

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Speaker 1: had clearly not intended the Child on the Station law

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Speaker 1: to be used in cases like Marcus Dixon's, and that

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Speaker 1: they had in fact acted in nineteen ninety six, just

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Speaker 1: one year after passing the Seven Deadly Sins Law to

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Speaker 1: lessen the penalties for sex between teenagers. The world shifted

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Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty degrees for Marcus Dixon with his

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Speaker 1: successful appeal. The jail warden called up to jones house

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Speaker 1: with Marcus on the line, and Marcus said, Pops, I'm

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Speaker 1: coming home. Ken Jones will remember the moment he got

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Speaker 1: that call forever, recalling that Marcus started crying, and I

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Speaker 1: started crying. The relief was palpable, and by that very

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Speaker 1: same Monday evening, Marcus Dixon was home with his family. Now,

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Speaker 1: being released from prison and returned to his family was

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Speaker 1: a big win. But if Marcus expected a happily ever

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Speaker 1: after immediately after his appeal, well, he was mistaken. First,

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Speaker 1: Pepperrell High School formerly expelled Marcus with only one course

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Speaker 1: short of graduation. This expulsion was a poignant reminder of

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Speaker 1: the collateral damage he could anticipate from the past year

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Speaker 1: of legal proceedings. While some people embraced him, his case

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Speaker 1: had stirred up a powerful pot of prejudice that was

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Speaker 1: now boiling over with a vengeance. Pepperoll High School was

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Speaker 1: a Georgia institution, and at this point, local tensions were

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Speaker 1: at a tipping point. Alvin Jackson, former president of the

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Speaker 1: Rome Georgia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement

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Speaker 1: of Colored People, said the case it churned up long

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Speaker 1: hidden veins of racism that run through Rome. He warned

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Speaker 1: Marcus to get far away from Rome and fast to

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Speaker 1: start a new life. I don't think his chances are

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Speaker 1: good here. It's not safe, Alvin Jackson said when Marcus

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Speaker 1: goes somewhere else, gets a new start. People will support him,

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Speaker 1: but it was hard for Marcus to know just where

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Speaker 1: to go. Vanderbilt's scholarship offer was no longer on the

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Speaker 1: table in his case. It ignited a powerful comparison to

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Speaker 1: another hot buttoned political tale, resulting in widespread national dissonance.

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Speaker 1: You see the Marcus Dixon case that played out in

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Speaker 1: stark contrast to another man's sexual dalliance. Strom Thurmond strom

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Speaker 1: Thurman was an American politician who represented South Carolina in

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Speaker 1: the US Senate from nineteen fifty four until shortly before

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Speaker 1: his death in two thousand and three. He's best known

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Speaker 1: for conducting the longest speaking filibuster ever by a loan senator,

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Speaker 1: at twenty four hours and eighteen minutes in length, in

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Speaker 1: opposition to the Civil Rights Act of nineteen fifty seven. Basically,

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Speaker 1: strom talked for over a day by himself in support

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Speaker 1: of racial segregation. But just because he didn't want to

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Speaker 1: associate with black people in public didn't stop him from

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Speaker 1: impregnating Carrie Butler, his family's sixteen year old black maid,

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Speaker 1: when he was twenty two years old. Strom Thurman paid

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Speaker 1: Carrie's family hush money so that his taking advantage of

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Speaker 1: a teenage black employee didn't interfere with his public image

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Speaker 1: as he pursued a political career anyway. When strom Thurman's

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Speaker 1: illegitimate daughter, s he May Washington Williams, born by Carrie Butler,

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Speaker 1: was asked about what it transpired at her conception, she

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Speaker 1: stressed that the South Carolina senator had magnanimously provided funds,

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Speaker 1: and society accepted this, effectively labeling white man's strom Thurman

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Speaker 1: a generous patriarch for paying for his sex with a

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Speaker 1: black teenager, whereas in two thousand and three, by contrast,

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon, a black man having sex with the white teenager,

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Speaker 1: was labeled a editor as James E. McWilliams, a history

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Speaker 1: teacher at Texas State University of San Marcos, wrote, when

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Speaker 1: it comes to justice, Senator Thurman knew it as well

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Speaker 1: as Marcus Dixon. Race still matters. For Thurman, it mattered

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Speaker 1: to his benefit. Dixon, trapped by the tenacious grip of

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Speaker 1: a pernicious stereotype, hasn't been so fortunate, and it seemed

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Speaker 1: that Professor McWilliams was right. Marcus Dixon's case had become

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Speaker 1: the key example. Of a disturbing pattern. Individuals of color

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Speaker 1: often faced harsher repercussions harsher sentences than their Caucasian counterparts

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Speaker 1: for similar allegations. But Marcus didn't want his future to

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Speaker 1: be tied to his politically polarizing legal past or allegations

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Speaker 1: of sexual predation. He didn't want to be a symbol.

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Speaker 1: He was a two hundred and forty five pound nineteen

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Speaker 1: year old who still had the same dream he'd had

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Speaker 1: fifteen months earlier before his arrest. Marcus wanted to play football,

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Speaker 1: and Vanderbilt no longer wanted him, so Kenon Perry Jones

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Speaker 1: did what loving parents do, which is basically anything and

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Speaker 1: everything they can think of to keep their child's dream alive.

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Speaker 1: We started calling some of the schools who had shown

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Speaker 1: an interest in Marcus earlier, Perry Jones said, and the

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Speaker 1: Jones didn't stop making calls until they got a positive answer.

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Speaker 1: At last, the coaches at Hampton University extended a scholarship

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Speaker 1: offer to Marcus. Joe Taylor, the head coach of Hampton University,

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Speaker 1: did his due diligence before extending the offer. A lot

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Speaker 1: of people down in the Atlanta area called me about him,

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Speaker 1: said he was a good kid, Taylor recalled, it was

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Speaker 1: clear that despite his historic challenges, there were still people

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Speaker 1: who believed in second chances and who had a desire

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Speaker 1: to help Marcus advance to the next stage of his life.

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Speaker 1: Hampton University is one of the top historically black universities

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Speaker 1: in the world and sits right near the mouth of

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Speaker 1: the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. It is home to approximately

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Speaker 1: three thousand students, offers more than one hundred different degree programs,

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Speaker 1: and proved to be the perfect place for Marcus's next chapter.

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Speaker 1: At then Division one A Hampton University, Marcus shown on

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Speaker 1: the gridiron, he displayed the talent that once made him

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Speaker 1: an elite recruit. Over four seasons, Marcus racked up one

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty four tackles in eleven and a half sacks.

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Speaker 1: Under the guidance of his coach, Joe Taylor, Marcus reached

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Speaker 1: new levels of physical excellence, contributing significantly to three MIAC championships.

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Speaker 1: He even earned All Mid Eastern Athletic Conference honors in

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Speaker 1: both his junior and senior seasons, a testament to his

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Speaker 1: hard work and talent, Marcus never did outrun the media

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Speaker 1: interest in his story. Though. In twenty twelve, eight years

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Speaker 1: after his release from jail, Marcus finally agreed to pear

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Speaker 1: on one of the most influential platforms in America, the

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Speaker 1: Oprah Winfrey Show. This appearance wasn't just another interview, It

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Speaker 1: was a moment of profound reflection and recognition. On Oprah's show,

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Speaker 1: Marcus opened up about his experience with a level of

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Speaker 1: candor that resonated with millions. It's been ten years and

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Speaker 1: it's behind me, he said, But Marcus Dixon has been

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Speaker 1: accused of rape. For the rest of my life, that

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Speaker 1: is going to be associated with my name, he acknowledged.

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Speaker 1: This statement underscored the enduring impact of his conviction and

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Speaker 1: the legal wrangling afterward, despite the sentencing injustice he had

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Speaker 1: undeniably faced. Marcus spoke of forgiveness, a value instilled in

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Speaker 1: him by his grandmother. To Oprah, my grandmother taught me

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Speaker 1: at a young age you don't hold grudges. If you

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Speaker 1: hold grudges, all you're doing is holding your life back,

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Speaker 1: he shared. Oprah, with her characteristic empathy and insight, delved

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Speaker 1: into the emotional and psychological impact these events had on

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Speaker 1: Marcus and his family. Marcus his adoptive father, Ken Jones

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Speaker 1: reflected on his son's resilience, expressing immense pride. Marcus is

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Speaker 1: stronger than I am. I've always wanted my kids to

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Speaker 1: grow up and be better than me, and he has.

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Speaker 1: And that is a very touching statement from a p

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Speaker 1: baron one that certainly resonated with TV viewers. But Oprah's interview,

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Speaker 1: much like our podcast, Playing Dirty, was determined not to

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Speaker 1: take sides. Balanced juice is the best for the system

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Speaker 1: after all, So Oprah included Marcus's accuser, Christy Brown on

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Speaker 1: her show too. How would time impacted Christy's view of

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Speaker 1: what transpired on February tenth, two thousand and three, Well,

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Speaker 1: it hadn't. Christy maintained that the sex was not consensual.

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Speaker 1: She said that Marcus Dixon assaulted her. When Oprah pressed her,

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Speaker 1: remarking that many people believed that the case would never

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Speaker 1: have gone to court at all had been a white

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old boy and a black fifteen year old girl,

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Speaker 1: Christy defended her initial decision to come forward and accuse

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon. That's not true, Christy told Oprah. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: matter what color he is, it's his actions that make

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Speaker 1: it wrong. This is why I told you to put

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Speaker 1: your pers no speculation regarding what did or did not

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Speaker 1: happen on February tenth, two thousand and three to one side,

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Speaker 1: because we don't know. We can't know. Only Christian Marcus

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Speaker 1: will ever know. So the only part of this story

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Speaker 1: that we do know to be outrageous, to be scandalous,

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Speaker 1: was the extremity of the legal sentence handed down to

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Speaker 1: Marcus that was absolutely unjust because it was not commensurate

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Speaker 1: with other defendant sentences for similar crimes. So what happened

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Speaker 1: to Marcus Dixon who found himself at the center of

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Speaker 1: an egregious sentencing scandal. Well, Despite his reputational baggage, the

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Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys saw potential in Marcus and signed him as

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Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent on April twenty seventh, two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight, to a three year, one point one million

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Speaker 1: dollar deal. I saw my name on a locker, M

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Speaker 1: Dixon with the Dallas Cowboys. I had a big star

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Speaker 1: on my helmet, I had my jersey hanging up, I

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Speaker 1: had cleats and everything, and I was like, Wow, I'm

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. Marcus recalled, overwhelmed by the realization of

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Speaker 1: his dream. However, his time with the Dallas Cowboys was

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Speaker 1: plagued by injuries, limiting his playing time and leading to

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Speaker 1: his release in twenty ten. The New York Jets claimed

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00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: him off waivers the very next day. Marcus found acceptance

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Speaker 1: in the Jets organization, even with his past, maybe even

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Speaker 1: in part because of it. One teammate, mart Scott expressed

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Speaker 1: his admiration for Marcus, saying he showed a lot of

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Speaker 1: resilience and character getting through all the legal challenges. Marcus

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Speaker 1: himself has said the convictions in jail time made him

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Speaker 1: realize that life is short and that nothing should be

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Speaker 1: taken for granted. After a stint with the Jets, where

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Speaker 1: he played in twenty two games, Marcus briefly joined the

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Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs and the Tennessee Titans, but was released

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00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: before the regular season began. He retired from professional football

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00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: in April twenty fifteen, but Marcus wasn't finished with the NFL,

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Speaker 1: not by a long shot. Players go on to coach

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Speaker 1: after their playing career ends, and remember Marcus was an

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Speaker 1: honors student. Those smarts come in awfully handy on the

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Speaker 1: sidelines of a football game, and so after hanging up

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00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 1: his cleats. Marcus Dixon turned his focus to coaching in

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Speaker 1: twenty twelve. He began as a volunteer defensive line coach

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00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: at Shorter University. His coaching ability was recognized early on,

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00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,359
Speaker 1: leading to a Bill Walsh Minority coaching fellowship with the

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00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys in twenty fifteen. The following year, Marcus joined

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00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: Darlington School as an assistant football coach, where he managed

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00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 1: the defensive line and tight ends. He got valuable coaching

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00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 1: experience in both college and the pros. In twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 1: Marcus returned to Hampton University, his alma mater, as the

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Speaker 1: defensive line assistant football coach. His role expanded over the years,

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Speaker 1: adding the responsibilities of director of player Development and recruiting coordinator.

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00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: And then, while all of this coaching experience under his belt,

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Speaker 1: Marcus joined the Los anet Angeles Rams as their assistant

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Speaker 1: defensive line coach. He was back in the NFL on

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Speaker 1: the other side of the gridiron. His role with the

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Speaker 1: Rams led to a pinnacle moment in his career, winning

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Speaker 1: his first Super Bowl championship when Los Angeles defeated Cincinnati

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Speaker 1: in Super Bowl fifty six. At age eighteen, sitting in

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00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,960
Speaker 1: a Georgia prison, Marcus probably never imagined he'd one day

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Speaker 1: have a Super Bowl ring all his own. In twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two, Marcus Dixon was hired by the Denver Broncos

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Speaker 1: as the team's defensive line coach. In his first season,

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Speaker 1: he made an immediate impact with the Broncos defense, ranking

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00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: seventh in total defense and tenth in rushing defense in

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Speaker 1: the league. His guidance was instrumental in the development of

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Speaker 1: players like Draymont Jones, who achieved a team leading six

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00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: and a half sacks in just thirteen games. Off the field,

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon is now a devoted husband and father, married

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00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: with three children. His personal life today reflects the stability

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00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 1: and love that had been constance for him since he

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Speaker 1: was twelve years old thanks to Ken and Perry Jones.

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Speaker 1: Marcus Dixon's story is one of resilience, redemption, and the

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Speaker 1: transformative power of sport. But it's also a cautionary tale

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Speaker 1: about race and the legal system and how their intersection

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00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: can destroy lives. Statistics compiled by the Innocence Project show

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Speaker 1: a pattern of continued discrimination and disparity in the United

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Speaker 1: States legal treatment and sentencing of black people. Innocent black

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Speaker 1: people are seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted

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Speaker 1: of murder than innocent white people. It takes forty five

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Speaker 1: percent longer to exonerate an innocent black person than an

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Speaker 1: innocent white person, and police misconduct occurred in more than

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Speaker 1: half of all wrongful murder conviction cases involving innocent black people.

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Speaker 1: I've given you a lot to digest. Stay thirsty, people,

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00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 1: and meet me your host, Jay Harris, back here for

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Speaker 1: next week's episode of Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty

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Speaker 1: Sports Scandals is a production of Dan Patrick Productions, Never

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00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: Ever Productions, and Workhouse Media from executive producers Dan Patrick,

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00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: Paul Anderson, Nick Panella, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary. Hosted

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00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: by Jay Harris, Written and produced by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks,

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00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 1: Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clay,