Ep.6 150 year sentence and a deep spiritual journey part 1 w/ John Esteen

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Hello, hello and welcome to the borealis

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experience. I'm your host Aurora, and I'm very excited to

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be sharing my first interview with john esteen. John esteen

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was sentenced to 150 years of jail time. And he shares his

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story. He shares how in a tremendously hopeless situation,

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he was able to fight for himself, he was able to see the

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light and to focus on the vision he has, namely to be reunited

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with his family and to live life and freedom. I find it very

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important to say that the Borealis experience podcast is

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not only about inspiring talks, and meditations, it is also

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inviting people from all walks of life to talk with me, and to

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share their story to inspire other people, to help them grow

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to help them make the changes they want to see in their life,

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and to relate to make you guys and girls out there. feel less

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alone. So feel inspired now lean back and enjoy this wonderful

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conversation I had with john as seen this morning. Take good

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care of yourself. By

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Okay, I'm John Esteen. I'm from Louisiana. I was served 20 years

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on 150 years sentence on a nonviolent drug offense. I was

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on NBC dateline covering my story. It was amazing story. And

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I like to share with others in hope to help somebody else in

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their life, maybe encourage them, inspire them do some

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positive in life, we have no doubt we never give up you can

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achieve your purpose in life. Also, I'm president and founder

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of Andy second when nonprofit organization and I'm very proud

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of and the purpose of that is to help those coming home and women

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to take the burden from them of the normal things that we have

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to accomplish when we come out that normal people said or

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citizens would do, like getting the license, transportation,

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mental health services, education and things of the

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like. And that's why I hope to in doing that. I hope to lower

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the recidivism rate, because people that come home from

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prison within two to five year span, they find themselves back

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in prison. And we want to curtail that. That's the purpose

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of that power station. Yes, ma'am.

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That is so so beautiful. Thank you, john. Like, would you say

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that when you come out of prison that like there's a lot of talk

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about PTSD, right posttraumatic stress disorder that people like

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all of them suffer from the stress that happens in the

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prison and to get back into life to get back to their families.

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Sounds very beautiful and romantic and it's awesome but

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it's also very scary and can bring up a lot of I don't know

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is it anger? Is it sadness is a depression How was it for you

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when you got out like it was a huge fight like legal fight to

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get you out on time to for you to not be serving over 100 years

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but the day you found out that you get out again How was it for

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you were you scared nervous or just excited

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and mixed it was a guess both excited in fear yeah excited to

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be know my family after so many years hand I'm having how it

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ended the house I can't be part of always long have that in

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dropped about then participate in that and now I'm having this

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opportunity when I was coming home so excited about that.

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Yeah, the fear thing is it's dealing with the potion medic

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stress disorder.

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Yeah.

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Thank you wouldn't you experience a lot of things in

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prison also you're in a controlled environment for so

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many years. So you depend on you find out depended on a system to

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a certain extent, your life you know, you when you wake up you

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go to bed Yeah, he, in the light things that the light, every

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moment of your life is pretty much controlled. And you have a

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sense of freedom in Angola because it's like a city of his

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own. But at the same time, you'll find out that you are in

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a controlled environment, we'd be lucky out put you in a

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dungeon, and things like that. And reality really sets in. So

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you're really not really, really not free, even though it might

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feel as though the environment might feel like a free book by

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actual ality and not sort of fear me coming home. The things

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that your customer customers are doing in prison. These habits

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you're gonna develop, you find yourself students still doing

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these things when you're home.

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Yeah, I'm certain

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to you. Like I go to a hospital. If I go to an appointment,

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instead of me saying appointment, I will say call up.

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So had to get over there took me a while to get over the sand. I

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have a call out and people looking at me call out. It's a

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call out. Excuse me. I'm I mean appointment. You see, you know,

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I mean, that things, the small things like that, you know, you

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realize that it's been ingrained. You've been

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institutionalized. Yeah, not knowing it. So that's a

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psychological thing about it. You know, you, you find yourself

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doing things not really noticing that you're doing it. So some I

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pointed out to you. Yes, ma'am.

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Yeah. And while you were serving, you say serving? Were

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you a spiritual person before? Already? And it helped you

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through? Or did you have a moment in jail where you started

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praying or started having like, mental practices to to not go

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crazy to stay sane? Did you grow up in a religious in a spiritual

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family? Or did you learn over time, too, because you come

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across as a very, very grounded, like, sweet soul person?

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Well, um, you know, surprise me by saying that a lot of people

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even in prison security guards in inmates are like, what was

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telling you don't belong here, man. You different, you know,

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you see, you know, they see the lighting, you may know what

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you're doing here. So I hear that a lot. And I grew up in a

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beautiful household, Catholic household, grew up Roman

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Catholic, went to Catholic schools. I went all the way up

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to my temporary year, my junior senior went to public schools by

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choice. And I want to go into Nicholls State University to

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play football. By switching schools are kind of like last

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educational platform, pretty much the same. I mean by that is

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that I didn't have college preparatory courses, get a full

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scholarship to college. So that led me to make another bad

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decision in my life, which I call bad decision is to join the

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National Guard to offset the costs to go to college. I've got

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a partial scholarship for football, and I needed something

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else to pay for the rest. So I'll say when we go National

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Guard, it sounds good. And they pay the rest, which it works. It

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works for the for the most part, but I didn't know that would be

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employed to go to war while in college. So that kind of

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backfired on me. Yeah, that derailed my dream to being

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playing in the Football League once in one day, you know, so

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always I still think about it day if I wouldn't went to the

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war. What I what I made it to the NFL, so I still go to my

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mind.

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Yeah, so feelings of regret. And yeah, maybe anger towards

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yourself. And where were you sent to war?

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Saturday again, ask that again. Ma'am.

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Where would you send To sir?

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I was sent to Saudi Arabia. Dharan. Okay in 19 9091. I got

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there with just turn on one. Well, it was it was it was the

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war was pretty quick at the site. And when we were being

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bombed, and we had to sit in these annex courts were no

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windows can see what's going on. So you don't know if the bombs

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gonna hit you or not. But all you hear sirens going off and

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heading to chemical Sudan because they didn't want to

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shore up their chemicals in the water here is that was been

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blowing up exposing their Senate to was our way. And that alone,

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I got tired. I got to the point where I just like, say, forget

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about it, then do it all this time, no chemicals and why would

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they have it now and I stopped putting my chemical suit on. But

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that was short lived because the guys that was in the annex court

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would mean they kind of came together and talk to me say man

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put your chemical suit on, we think we should put it on

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persuading people My Chemical shoe back on. And but at that

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point, I felt like that was the turning point in my mental

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factors. At that moment, because I didn't care anymore. It didn't

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matter. I always, always was thinking my family. Something

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happened to me here. You know, how am I my future wife,

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daughter, my son, my mom and dad, people that loved me always

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put my mind I was contact them. Not knowing if I'm gonna go home

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again. I got tired of that. You know, so I just cut just cut

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everything off. At that moment right there. I snapped. Yeah,

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yes, ma'am.

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and for how long? Have you been away from home then?

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Well, at that time, I was like seven and a half months have

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gone. by seven and a half months. I was over there.

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And then you came back home.

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I came back home had to be like June, July, maybe august of 91.

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And when I came home, I worked for my mother, my mother, lady

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who owns racetrack Jepson downs and the fairgrounds. And we did

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like beautification there. We did mess with plants with plant

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plants and no shrubberies. And that was really my first real

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job that I really had. Yeah, other than then I became a

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killer in the race grind were sold tickets and racehorse

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tickets and stuff like that. Yeah, so I got rid of das. I

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stopped doing that when I got when I know. That was pretty

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cool. No, that was really I was kind of like, and see that will

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live. Shortly after that. I was I was late to my first time

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getting convicted, going to the feds. Um, see, I had a lot of

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pressure on me. I really couldn't cope. I really would

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think more pressure Come on me. I kind of like I get disturbed

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real bad. You know, I feel I can't cope. What the average the

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average thing and I couldn't stand nobody challenged in me

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mentally. This is a lot of things that this I couldn't I

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couldn't want to buy tell me anything. Yeah, it was

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especially my own mind. I'm thinking I'm writing my own

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things my time otherwise, I really kind of it balls my

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blood. So when I got to the point where I felt that thing

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was coming, like financially speaking, you know, I had a

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number to a friend of mine that was in a drug game. And he said,

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whenever you pay me Just call me you know, come holla at me, but

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he said that because initially I refused him, even though he

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showed me all kinds of money. But I was working at the time

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for my mom, girlfriend. My sisters was like a family thing.

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So but eventually I got into it and that to the point work just

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started my my crime spree. You know if you want to call it

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that, but I really believe that it all stems coming from war

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because I was doing a lot of stuff in Saudi Arabia. That

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along with me, and I came back to the state side like we was

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going through to get to a place called Bahrain. I'm not if you

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familiar Bahrain, Bahrain, sell alcohol. Yeah. NCO clothes,

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people go potty. You can drink alcohol in this part of the

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country. Yeah, we drive a lot. Yeah. So I wasn't sorry. I

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wasn't where's the drown counties? No, alcohol. Alcohol

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is illegal. Yeah, so when we do it, what we did is we started

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with that great idea we young to stop smuggling alcohol across

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the border and make extra money. So that story low hanging with

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me right there. And other things, you know, of the like,

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you know, doing things that we've posed to be doing. And

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when I came home, and that was easy for me getting to doing

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things continued doing things I was supposed to be doing. And

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that was selling Yeah, without drugs introduced to Minnesota.

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stuff called hashish. Yeah, they will have enough that ends up

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there with some ndo. You know, we came in, introduced that to

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my soldier. Comrades and, and I was smoking that we were

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drinking moonshine with the color rice wine. Man was doing

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everything. And one time. I mean, I was introduced to a lot

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of stuff that never was introduced to my life.

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Yeah, yeah. And it was also like you had a feeling of being a

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provider and helping people cope with a stress, right? Because

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alcohol helps you to, yes, process stress, and, of course,

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a solution, but it's a short term relief. And that's what you

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were able to provide to those guys. And all along, you forget,

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oh, shit, this is highly illegal. Actually, I shouldn't

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be doing that.

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Right, you know? Exactly. You know, we know what was doing

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wrong. But we didn't see that's another thing. We'll know what

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he did wrong, but they don't know what the consequences are

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behind the wrong things that you do. Yeah, you see, we haven't.

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Once you know, the consequences, I think you make a new, more

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rational decision to do it or not. You see this, like, when I

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went to prison the first time, you know, I have got three and a

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half years, and I come home. And my first time that was a lot, I

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would expect them probation. So that blew my mind. Right there.

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See, and when I was doing my time in Pensacola, Florida, so I

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come home from that, you kind of straighten me out, I won't go

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back to jail. But I wouldn't change or wanting to change

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person is just I got older and wiser. But I was still the same

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person that made those bad decisions prior to going to

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jail. You know, just want to understand why I'm mad. And so

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it was for somebody to come along us that's doing something

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illegal make some extra money for me to go back into that

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trap. And that's what happened. On his second challenge. Yeah.

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Okay. And as I got into it, I'm not I'm not thinking about the

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consequences. I know jail is a consequence, but not that much

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time. Not that much jail time. 150 years, I never fathom that.

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in my wildest dreams. No, I hurt anybody. Yeah. So um, so what

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they did is, by me being a second Fender, they couldn't

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give me life. So they gave me full count in random consecutive

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it separately from one another. So give me the most time

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possible. So let's say example with me. And what Another thing

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I was angry about is that you send me all this time, nothing

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consideration that I fall for my country. The banks that did good

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and like what I was doing well with Andrew, prior to all this,

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like playing football trying to provide for my family. Hello,

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son. None of these things will take into consideration and my

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senesin if they did, would you have gave me 100 years flat, you

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know, my time consecutive for you ran together. Give me a

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break there, you know, that you could done that because it still

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fits to our sentencing guideline. But you don't want me

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you know, and that kind of still angers me to to think about my

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country will allow something like this to happen.

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Yeah, yeah. And just to give us a quick idea, so you ended up

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having to serve 20 years out of

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how many years? Seven months? Yeah. 20 years, seven months,

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man. And that's because I fought. That's because I fought.

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Yeah, my word is laid down. On the last change. I have pro

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eligibility, but it's not guaranteed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I

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can do I can still be in prison right now waiting on another

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time turn for parole eligibility going on. I have friends and it

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still it has proved eligibility because they're juveniles and

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got denied and had to wait another two years and then you

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got to wait another five years. It's got denied again. It just

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is an ongoing thing. Now promises and how to get on my

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own.

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Sorry.

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No, I didn't want it. That's why I took it off. Yeah, okay. No

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problem. No, that's why I took it upon myself to fight. Even

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though I have row. I'm still fighting to get the sentence.

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Yeah, because my sentence was a league in a court and our system

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was saying that I had to go into pro upon rollaboard and I will

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tell you the system that how do I have to go on upon parole

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board to ask for a favor? Well, my sentence is illegal. And it

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should be do me should earn that extra for famous upon Robo. You

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just ask for favor. So I'm asking them to read to resend me

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to give me my life sentence as all our accent and they will

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fuse in that. And I fought and I fought and I fought until my

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case became the SDN case. Now it's a big old case landmark

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case now. And many people went home on my case before I even

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went home. So I was still fighting when people going home

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on using my case. Yes, but

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that's okay. That's okay to help others. Is that

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Yes, right. Love it. I would love it. You know, I just had to

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fight longer.

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Yeah, I'm

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good day, the day you found out that you got 150 years to serve.

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When? When were you mentally okay to start a fight? Did you

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fight from the first day like you didn't accept it from the

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first day? Or did you first go through a couple of years, a

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couple months where you were like, Oh, my God, like, I'm

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done. I'm lost. I got nowhere to go. Um, how long did it take you

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to start fighting?

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Me a few years now took me a few years still fighting. When I

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first got the end goal and go like a two year early. It's like

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a city of his own had a lot of distractions that sports have

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everything you'd think of. And the world and society, you

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pretty much have it in prison. And so that was my distractions.

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I love sports. So that was my that was my way of since I have

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couldn't have drugs or alcohol or know that. So sports,

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provided that that comfort for me. Yes, going through I was

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going through this and educate myself to always want to learn,

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I want to learn by guys so I've gotten a Bible College. I got my

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bachelor's degree in Christian ministry and what the harder

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Carter school and now after after Bible college and I got

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served certified horticultural certificate. So I did do pa

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became vice president of vets club, I did this like that. I

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was always in positive things. I was a boxer. I was in a boxing

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team, football team basketball team, you name it, I done it.

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Yeah. And I got to the point where Yeah, I got to the point

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where I still have 150 years. And no, no one no one had dawned

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on me is when I got no color guard, by me being a military

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and veterans club, they asked me being a color guard. And we do

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we do a little show and rodeo town have rodeo twice a year and

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we come into the color guard and Buddha flag thing you know, do a

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little show for the people and and one and also we bury our own

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veterans we bury them at the core point Point Lookout is a

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burial ground on Angola premises. And we got we're up

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two Point Lookout three now the ground at the end of all is

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people dying in there it's a lie it's reality is real. So I don't

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know this guy's older white guy that went to very and his family

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never couldn't afford to get them I'm assuming. But his

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sister and her husband was there at the funeral got a big old

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hole in the ground we around it we do a little ceremony and I'm

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watching this coffin go into the big black dog hole. And and I

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felt like I felt the guy's pain. And I started crying tears come

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on my face. And in my my heart in my mind. I said I don't want

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to die here. I woke me up that start that sparked me to fight

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for my life. That's when I start cutting things off. You know

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there was there will hold me up from getting my freedom. I

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stopped cut these dead branches off and started focusing on a

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law. Talk to me a counsels trying to get information. And

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it is click one day like God gave me the answer my case and I

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tried to get other inmate counsel understand none and

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couldn't understand what I was talking about. That is new. I

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had it and I had one inmate that that believed in me because I

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was so adamant and so persuasive on and confident that this won't

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work for me. And we and he worked out he worked my routes

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out for me year after year after year we stuck with the same

Unknown: 00:24:43

claim. And eventually I got the reward to go take a while.

Unknown: 00:24:50

Yeah, but from that one instance where you woke up, your whole

Unknown: 00:24:55

being focus just on I want to be free. And I envision what I want

Unknown: 00:25:02

to see in my future. And I'm not going to let myself distracted

Unknown: 00:25:06

anymore.

Unknown: 00:25:08

I mess with the women and whatnot when I guys when we meet

Unknown: 00:25:12

the sisters, whatever I say, No, I can't offer them nothing.

Unknown: 00:25:17

Yeah, I see, they are there. I mean, here, what can I do for

Unknown: 00:25:21

them? See, I need to educate myself, I need to find my way

Unknown: 00:25:27

out of here, wherever, by where everything is, then I can

Unknown: 00:25:32

concentrate on that. Yeah, see, so that was my focus. Yeah. And,

Unknown: 00:25:39

and let everybody tell you and, and I did meet, I did meet, um,

Unknown: 00:25:43

my future wife, my last two years of conservation, I didn't

Unknown: 00:25:47

meet her. Um, and it was a, it was like, reason being is

Unknown: 00:25:54

because I finished all I had to do my case is all lose weight.

Unknown: 00:26:00

Because this is my I was my second term around second time

Unknown: 00:26:03

around to the Louisiana Supreme Court, I was denied their first

Unknown: 00:26:07

time there. And this is my like, to me, it was my last hope. And

Unknown: 00:26:14

I've been there a statement like 17 months waiting on a decision.

Unknown: 00:26:19

And in and in that time, a friend of mine has run a yard

Unknown: 00:26:26

where we're really close with him. But we got to develop a

Unknown: 00:26:29

friendship out there who worked out together in and got to know

Unknown: 00:26:34

him very well. And he stopped me one day and he said, he said man

Unknown: 00:26:40

you talk to you about so I say What's up? My wife is bring a

Unknown: 00:26:44

friend. And I know you don't move yet. Nobody family. All

Unknown: 00:26:48

right. No, there's so they already know. I don't I don't do

Unknown: 00:26:51

that. You say but I was thinking I was sitting on my bed. And I

Unknown: 00:26:57

was wondering who can visit with my wife best friend that

Unknown: 00:27:01

convinced come spend time with my wife. And he said as I was

Unknown: 00:27:05

laying on my bed. So someone told me Let boosting become my

Unknown: 00:27:11

nickname. I grow as my nickname let boosting, talk to her. And

Unknown: 00:27:17

when he presented that to me like that, I looked at my smile

Unknown: 00:27:21

said okay, I go visit you know what you and I'll talk to you

Unknown: 00:27:26

why friend why you spend time with your wife. I do that for

Unknown: 00:27:29

you. So I went so I was really working out really finished

Unknown: 00:27:34

everything in which is not a date. So I don't care who she is

Unknown: 00:27:37

as big as a whale ugly is I don't know what it didn't

Unknown: 00:27:40

matter.

Unknown: 00:27:46

So

Unknown: 00:27:48

I just went there, you know, with no expectations and this

Unknown: 00:27:51

free, you know, cuz it just, I'm just doing a favor. That's all I

Unknown: 00:27:54

was doing, you know, so. But what got me when I met a shoe,

Unknown: 00:27:59

she's pretty attractive young lady, you know, to me, but I was

Unknown: 00:28:02

just talking to her, you know, I got to meet her personally and

Unknown: 00:28:07

get to know the guy's wife, you know, that the meet her too. And

Unknown: 00:28:12

we go and visit was a long visit that day. You know, that

Unknown: 00:28:15

morning, I went to four o'clock that evening. So visit hotel you

Unknown: 00:28:18

buy for you. This is like a regular visiting. And anyway,

Unknown: 00:28:22

like a day in a park. You know, so that's how we treated it. And

Unknown: 00:28:27

but what got me was at the end of the visit. She walked towards

Unknown: 00:28:33

me. And I was sitting down. I remember like she can't walk and

Unknown: 00:28:37

she asked me a question. She said, Do you want me to come

Unknown: 00:28:40

back? And I said, Wow. I say See, I know what to say. I said

Unknown: 00:28:47

you won't come back. And she said she's Uh, yeah, I say we

Unknown: 00:28:50

come I want you to come back. So from that day forward, she one

Unknown: 00:28:54

of my business issues, I was a joint venture with them on the

Unknown: 00:28:57

guys visit, I was just a joint this joint in with these visits,

Unknown: 00:29:00

we got paperwork done for that. And about a month or two later,

Unknown: 00:29:05

we wound up getting her on my visit and less and she came

Unknown: 00:29:09

like, twice a month to drove like, to Ohio two hours, two and

Unknown: 00:29:14

a half hours. Twice a month. They come see me, you know, I

Unknown: 00:29:18

mean? Wow. I mean, so not knowing that, you know, I have

Unknown: 00:29:22

150 years. Yeah. And not knowing if I'm come home and I can't I'm

Unknown: 00:29:29

not sure. You know, I'm not sure right now, because I'm still in

Unknown: 00:29:33

court and I'm still waiting on this decision. been long time in

Unknown: 00:29:36

court. So it's like, last time I was in court this at the same

Unknown: 00:29:39

time and I got denied so I wouldn't I know what to think.

Unknown: 00:29:43

Yeah, but always but for my no my key was I learned I tapped

Unknown: 00:29:49

into something spiritual. I tapped into something very,

Unknown: 00:29:53

very, may benefit a lot of people while by hand is right

Unknown: 00:29:58

now I'm gonna tell you I decided to just get up two o'clock every

Unknown: 00:30:03

morning on one bed whereby sleep and kneel by my bed, my hands up

Unknown: 00:30:07

like that. And just praise God for who he is not accident from

Unknown: 00:30:12

nothing is banking them in advance for what blessings He

Unknown: 00:30:17

bestowed upon me. And they're there every night for about the

Unknown: 00:30:20

last two years of my time in Angola. And as a result of all

Unknown: 00:30:26

that, I see many doors opening I seen first a newspaper reporter

Unknown: 00:30:31

came in there and interviewed me. He wrote for the advocate

Unknown: 00:30:35

newspaper here in New Orleans. He interviewed me and he put me

Unknown: 00:30:40

he took pictures on me in a law library. He's amazed by my

Unknown: 00:30:43

story. I'm going after him, NBC dateline candidate, Dr. Mineral

Unknown: 00:30:49

and gola, not me on Angola. And they discover my story when it

Unknown: 00:30:57

came to Angola, so they call me to the warden's office and tell

Unknown: 00:31:00

them telling me NBC dateline here want to interview you. Wow,

Unknown: 00:31:04

that blew me away. Big time from me. Yes. And and I wanna go and

Unknown: 00:31:16

getting the sentence. Long story short, one can't get the

Unknown: 00:31:19

sentence and I went back to my judicial one my case and we

Unknown: 00:31:23

asked me for after 17 years well my case I go to my district

Unknown: 00:31:30

court to give me sentence the judge is a new judge. And she

Unknown: 00:31:37

refused to look at my mitigating factors last 20 years in prison

Unknown: 00:31:42

she refused even look at me actually. All she said is that

Unknown: 00:31:47

we all breach our boundaries that we're here for sentencing

Unknown: 00:31:50

not here for upon parole board. Like now she has real heart nose

Unknown: 00:31:54

and blood.

Unknown: 00:31:56

And

Unknown: 00:31:59

she sent us me to the max possible. So 150 years turned to

Unknown: 00:32:04

100 years. So all she knocked off was 50 years of my senate

Unknown: 00:32:09

and sent me back then goal. Okay, so now I'm back at Angola.

Unknown: 00:32:20

All I have nice hope is for all which I really want depend upon.

Unknown: 00:32:25

So that's my that's my guess, was my eternal but at the same

Unknown: 00:32:32

time, I had a lot of publicity at this moment, too. So either I

Unknown: 00:32:36

can go for me, or it's gonna go against me. And I'm praying that

Unknown: 00:32:41

it go from me. At the same time, keep in mind that I'm still

Unknown: 00:32:47

praising God every morning at two o'clock in the morning, just

Unknown: 00:32:50

for who he is. And that will kept me straight kept me strong

Unknown: 00:32:55

kept me focused. Yeah, because I know that I was fairly convinced

Unknown: 00:33:00

that if God wouldn't be who can be against me, I kept that in my

Unknown: 00:33:04

heart. Yes. And so now on NBC dateline got involve, they come

Unknown: 00:33:15

in and they come in my dog asleep, they fill me in there.

Unknown: 00:33:20

They if they bring me to my chapel, I forget the film I

Unknown: 00:33:24

worked at in prison. I'm like a free man already in prison. I'm

Unknown: 00:33:28

walking around with these people with the wardens and everything.

Unknown: 00:33:30

Yeah, this is you know, and and it comes to my parole hearing. I

Unknown: 00:33:38

got it. Like my role was speeded up some kind of way. I don't

Unknown: 00:33:42

know how but I was on a board came up quick. So everybody

Unknown: 00:33:48

wanted me out of there. Yeah, the system wanted me out there.

Unknown: 00:33:52

And I'm not seeing it at the time do I'm still nervous.

Unknown: 00:33:58

guys understand

Unknown: 00:34:00

you're nervous. I'm still nervous. I'm NBC dateline city

Unknown: 00:34:05

on come back and they gonna walk me to the pump roll boy being a

Unknown: 00:34:08

walk new came to my door earlier that morning before going proper

Unknown: 00:34:12

oh boy the filming you won't be watching my thoughts. They won't

Unknown: 00:34:14

know what I'm thinking. They won't know everything about me

Unknown: 00:34:17

prior to me going to that point robot parent family up they

Unknown: 00:34:22

already waiting. And the other guys up there waiting for the

Unknown: 00:34:26

parole hearings. I was a second person they go in there right

Unknown: 00:34:30

No, not taking take note of this not the first person was denied.

Unknown: 00:34:35

Oh my god. So you know how it was. I had a bad on my mind. God

Unknown: 00:34:40

on standby, no witness, you know, first guy was denied off.

Unknown: 00:34:44

So he come out he come out family crying, he crying and I

Unknown: 00:34:47

see. So he are going to call me up. Going there. Hold a dome for

Unknown: 00:34:55

my family. Come on and sit down and make a long story short

Unknown: 00:35:00

son's book funny my mama spoke for me. They asked me a few

Unknown: 00:35:04

questions. And that this the lawyer for the state of

Unknown: 00:35:08

Louisiana was the first one to question me on a board. And he

Unknown: 00:35:14

told me he let me know that he is a lawyer. And he won't ask me

Unknown: 00:35:17

a few questions. So he asked me a few questions and after asked

Unknown: 00:35:21

him, he said, it must be true. They say about you. He said, You

Unknown: 00:35:30

fought us, despite how we may have felt about you. You kept on

Unknown: 00:35:37

fighting. He said, therefore, I cannot deny you. And the other

Unknown: 00:35:43

two guys up two guys spoke they asked me a few questions. And he

Unknown: 00:35:48

said we liked the first guy we can't can't deny. So, so many

Unknown: 00:35:52

methods original guy that talked to me first a lawyer. When you

Unknown: 00:35:56

say well, granted parole may in my head hit the table. cry like

Unknown: 00:36:02

a baby.

Unknown: 00:36:03

Yeah.

Unknown: 00:36:05

Yes, that was the best time in my life. That I have so much

Unknown: 00:36:10

weight on my shoulders now has been lifted.

Unknown: 00:36:13

Yeah. So beautiful. JOHN, so we're coming to an end with with

Unknown: 00:36:21

our first meeting here. I would love to have you back. And you

Unknown: 00:36:25

also mentioned that you want to bring on a friend. Right?

Unknown: 00:36:30

Yes, yeah. See, he's, um, okay.

Unknown: 00:36:34

No, I don't know. Because zoom is gonna kick us out here very

Unknown: 00:36:38

soon. That you know, it's zoom. It's not me. One. Okay. All

Unknown: 00:36:43

right. Would you like to mention your podcast right at the end

Unknown: 00:36:47

here. And then we set up a new date for our new conversation,

Unknown: 00:36:52

maybe next week, or in a couple of days. I'm gonna share the

Unknown: 00:36:57

title of your podcast that you want to kick start.

Unknown: 00:37:02

The title of my podcast I want to kick start is out of bondage

Unknown: 00:37:06

and to success.

Unknown: 00:37:07

Yeah. And this episode here will be on the Borealis experience,

Unknown: 00:37:15

podcast. And yeah, we will chat very soon to talk about your

Unknown: 00:37:20

friend to bring him on. And to talk more about your situation

Unknown: 00:37:25

right now and

Unknown: 00:37:26

your family.

Unknown: 00:37:28

Right. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time

Unknown: 00:37:32

and for. Yeah, for being here. Thank you. Pleasure. Have a good

Unknown: 00:37:38

rest of your day.

Unknown: 00:37:40

You too, man.

Unknown: 00:37:41

Thank you so much. Bye, bye.

Unknown: 00:37:44

Bye.

Unknown: 00:37:46

Thank you so much for listening to our conversation here on the

Unknown: 00:37:50

Warriors experience podcast. Make sure to check out john

Unknown: 00:37:54

Astin on Facebook and his non profit organization that I will

Unknown: 00:38:02

be posting in the show notes here. Alright. Take good care of