VandySports Interviews Real Sports Bryant Gumbel

This week, HBO's award-winning sports magazine show "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" began airing an exclusive investigative report on the story behind the conviction of Vanderbilt recruit Marcus Dixon of Lindale, Georgia of statutory rape and child molestation. Upon his conviction, Vanderbilt rescinded their scholarship offer to Marcus.

In the Real Sports story, Gumbel interviews Dixon from prison, as well as his family at their home. He also speaks at length with two members of the jury that convicted Dixon, and the DA who prosecuted the case. Included in the program are excerpts from the trial itself, which included testimony from the alleged victim.

The incident between Dixon and his unnamed classmate happened Feb. 10 between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., but was reported to the police the afternoon of Feb. 13. He was also initially charged with sexual misdemeanor battery. He was held without bond until the trial.

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found Dixon not guilty of aggravated rape, concluding that Dixon and his classmate had consensual sex — a charge Dixon admitted all along. Under Georgia's sexual predator laws, however, because Dixon was slightly more than two years older than the girl, he was convicted of statutory rape and child molestation. Under Georgia's relatively new Child Protection laws, the charge of child molestation carries a mandatory 10 year prison sentence, without parole.

According to Bryant, Dixon became the youngest person to ever be convicted of child molestation under these Georgia laws, and was the first student to be convicted of these charges for having sex with a classmate. Georgia has other laws that make consensual sex between minors a misdemeanor, not usually punishable with any kind of jail time.

Often through tears, both jurors say they had no idea Dixon would serve any time for the conviction, and claim that every member of the jury felt Dixon would walk out of court that day to go home. In the show, both plead for the Supreme Court to overturn the conviction. They say that in this case, the punishment did not fit the crime, and the jury had no idea Dixon would serve any jail time whatsoever for having consensual sex with a classmate. Gumbel claims that Dixon's case has been appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, and the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge of Atlanta has agreed to represent Marcus pro bono.

As a Pepperell High School student, the 6-6 260 pound Dixon was a blue chip defensive end who had scholarship offers from virtually every SEC program. He was the most highly rated recruit in Vanderbilt's 2003 class.

Dixon was an honors student and member of the National Honor Society. During his high school career, he was active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was a Who's Who Among American High School Students, and participated in the select chorus. He carried a 3.9 GPA his senior year. Dixon planned to earn a degree in education at Vanderbilt.

Below is the text of VandySports' interview with Gumbel:

Mike Rapp: It's astounding that this story was not discovered in Nashville. How did you find out about it?

Bryant Gumbel: Credit for "finding" this story should go to Gayle Jones (an associate producer of Real Sports.) She evidently came across a tiny story about Marcus in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and then proceeded to make all the contacts from there.

Your interviews with the DA were stunning. What were your thoughts when you heard him say he thought justice was done in this case?

It might surprise viewers to know that I was not stunned by the DA's approach and position. I have, over the course of 30 plus years in television, dealt and spoken with a number of individuals whose positions undoubtedly sounded illogical and inflammatory to others. In that position my job is simply to remain as calm and professional as possible, while trying to compel the person to either justify or clarify their positions.

And yes...when people sit before you and swear that two plus two is three, staying "detached" can be enormously difficult.

Give me your impressions of the jurors. I found their comments to be among the most compelling in the piece.

The jurors are heartbroken. The two with whom I spoke feel that they were used, and that they failed Marcus Dixon. Both say they are still haunted by their actions and are quite emotional about it. They say they have trouble sleeping and that a day doesn't pass, when they don't cry about what they've done to a young man who they clearly believe is innocent.

Vanderbilt had extremely high hopes for Marcus, both as a student and an athlete. He seemed in many ways the perfect VU student athlete, and in fact was Vanderbilt's #1 recruit last year. What does Marcus feel toward Vanderbilt at this point?

Marcus is a pretty amazing young man. I asked him specifically what he felt about Vandy's decision to lift his scholarship and he said that he understood the school's position completely, and felt that he had left them with little choice. He is not a bitter young man. He even expressed empathy and concern for the young lady who accused him of rape. He worries about her ability to cope with the guilt of what she did.

For what it's worth, Marcus still "lights up" whenever he speaks of Vanderbilt. He views the day he signed a letter of intent there as one of the greatest days of his life.

VandySports will continue to follow this story as it develops.

"Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" airs regularly on HBO and HBO2. The current program that leads with the Marcus Dixon story will contine to air until November 25, 2003.