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Teen wins freedom with murder trial gamble

 Torrance Dixon was offered 10 years, but he took his mother's advice and rejected a plea bargain. A judge acquits him, citing a lack of evidence.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published June 24, 2006

TAMPA - Torrance Jovan Dixon woke up Friday morning as a jail inmate with a murder charge hanging over his head.

He'll wake up today at home, a free man.

All because he listened to his mama.

The 18-year-old took her advice and rejected prosecutors' offer of 10 years in prison. He risked going away for life by bringing his case before a jury last week.

Those proved to be wise decisions. On Friday, Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett said the state had not provided any evidence that Dixon tried to rob and then killed a man in May 2005. There was too much speculation for jurors to consider, the judge said.

Case dismissed.

"I knew my son was innocent," Antoinette Williams Dixon said minutes after the acquittal. "I know the child I raised."

Torrance Dixon was one of seven children raised by the mostly single mother. He was a football-playing sophomore at Freedom High School in New Tampa when he was slapped a year ago with charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm.

He was 17. Authorities said he and another 17-year-old, Alvin Whitehead, tried to rob Enrique Hernandez for marijuana in the parking lot of 1418 138th Ave. During the holdup, one of the teens fatally shot Hernandez, 23, in the chest.

Prosecutors couldn't prove who had the gun and who fired it. No physical evidence put the gun in Dixon's hand, Padgett said in court.

Defense attorney Nick Sinardi, who did not call any witnesses to the stand, argued there was no proof of premeditation or a robbery. He said Whitehead was the more likely shooter because authorities found bullets for the gun on him at the time of his arrest.

Whitehead has not yet been tried.

Dixon's trial began Wednesday. Attorneys were scheduled to make closing arguments Friday morning when Sinardi asked Padgett to dismiss the charges. The state objected.

By law, prosecutors cannot appeal an acquittal. Hernandez's family did not attend the trial and could not be reached for comment.

Waiting for a ride home from the Orient Road Jail, Dixon said he hadn't understood the judge's edict until he heard his mother start crying behind him in the courtroom. As family members hugged and laughed, one juror clapped softly.

The moment was not lost on the young man, who spent his entire junior year in jail.

"Jesus has moved a mountain in my life," he said, clutching a plastic bag full of letters from his family and friends. "I'm not going to hang with the same type of crowd."

Williams Dixon said her son dreams of a future in the NFL. But Friday, there were more immediate plans being made.

"First of all, we're going to get on our knees and pray. We've got to thank God," she said.

"And then it's on. We're going to celebrate!"

Times photographer Daniel Wallace contributed to this report. Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 24, 2006, 06:24:20]