📍  📍  📍  📍 I had a life sentence. 

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 I had 999 years to be exact.

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍 I just got on my knees and I was like, God! 

  📍  📍  📍 your appeals   📍  📍 are done.

  📍  📍  📍 told seven times.

  📍  📍  📍 That's not gonna happen.

  📍  📍  📍 it was a commutation that you were seeking?

  📍  📍  📍  I  did it in faith.   📍  📍  📍 There's a literally a blip, a big clock, like the NFL draft.   📍  📍  📍 I'm watching the clock tick and I can't tell my two people that, Hey, listen, we have to share this 15 minutes.

  📍  📍  📍  📍 a minute. 

  📍  📍  📍 47 seconds to explain away 999 years.



  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 My heart dropped. 

  📍  📍  📍  📍 So they hit the clock.

  📍  📍  📍  📍 I get to speaking.



  📍  📍  📍 the governor looked, he said, he said, Mr. Gates, normally we vote at the end.

  📍  📍  📍 but I'm not going to make you wait.

  📍  📍  📍  you have my vote.   📍  📍  📍 If you could have seen the faces of the people in the audience 

  📍  📍  📍 shocking because I didn't know that day.

  📍  📍  📍 That she had personally denied 27 other people.   📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 I feel like God came and got me. 📍 

    📍 All right, so this is From Surviving to Living.  Welcome to the show. This is the Spotlight Series and  I have a really great guest here today, Coley Gates,   📍 and Coley has a story that It is really one filled with hope.   📍 You said you've written three books. Is that right?   📍 And the title of one of them was, there's no, The Game With No Winners. The Game With No Winners.   I'm just going to turn it over to you and let you tell, you know, about yourself 

  📍 Okay. As you said, my name is Coley Gates.   📍 I had a life sentence.  So I had 999 years to be exact. 

  📍 And that's just,  that's an incredible number to me  tell us how you came to have a sentence of 999 years in prison. 

  📍 My  father was a military man. And after the military came back to an unwelcoming community   📍 he became a drug dealer and then eventually a pimp.   📍 Of course, my mother and him broke up because my mother was not  with the lifestyle that he was now choosing. So I grew up.  Seeing these seeing pimps drug dealers and gang members that was that was the environment. I was raised in  and so My lifestyle was different.

 I came home many times to  The door being kicked in house raided things tore up. So as a young man  the things that People label crime wasn't really crime.   📍 That was the life that I was raised up in  and so  Of course, you grow older, you begin to know better and do better. But as a child, you don't know better.

And so you start emulating the people and the things that you see.   📍 I, I remember as young, I didn't want to be my father.

I wanted to be the best  I could be in the life that was shown to me.   📍 In that lifestyle, the best is the worst.   📍 Ironically, I, even though my father and my uncles and they were pimps, I couldn't stand pimps. So I knew I wasn't going that route.

  📍 But the street life  I was quote unquote good at.   📍 My name became  big in the streets.   📍 And so in 1998 

how I found, land myself in prison. Um, my best friend at the time, you know, we use the word loosely. Coming up in the streets, best friends.   📍 He, um, found himself in a position where he killed a man.  I was raised in the street, so   telling was not an option to me. Like I  was not going to tell, I was not going to.

 And so when I went to, when I got arrested, the officers at the time  came in the interview room   📍 literally their little words were, we know you didn't do this one, but we're gonna get you for it. 

  Had they caught your friend at this time 

  📍 no, he was, he was still free. They arrested me   📍 believing I was the actual one who committed the murder. 

  📍 Did that surprise you sitting there and being the focus where they think that you've done this 

 No, it didn't surprise me. Like, like I said, it made sense.  Like the life that I lived up to that point,   everybody believed it was me, not just the police. They were like, Oh yeah,  he, it was definitely, you know?  And so when they found out it wasn't me, that didn't matter to them because now it's like, okay,  Like they told me, we know you didn't do this one, but we're gonna get you for it.

 Right. So what happened after your arrest and meeting them? 

 So I was arrested. I was, um, taking before the grand jury on first degree murder    📍  📍 the grand jury ruled that I  found me guilty for aiding the bedding first degree murder charges. So it went from first degree to aiding the bedding first degree.

And so I said in the county  Um, I had never really been locked up for anything as a juvenile. I did. But this was the first time I've been locked up as an adult   📍 ​

  📍  📍 I have a lot of enemies. So they sent me to the hole.

  📍  📍 I end up standing up all night reading the Bible.

   📍  📍 I just got on my knees and I was like, God,

  📍  📍 I never asked God to release me.

   📍  📍 I said, God, whatever happens from this point on, I'm just going to serve.

  📍 ​

 

  📍 How old were you 

at this time? 

 At this time I was 18.  It was two weeks after my 18th birthday that I got arrested.

  📍 Now I'm in the county. I have a lot of enemies.  So they sent me to the hole. When I was in the hole  and in the hole, you don't have nothing. 

And so, but the first thing you do when you go to any, any sale is clean it up.  So I grabbed the tissue and everything and begin to wipe everything down. Then as I got to the floor to hit, to clean the floor, it was a book in the back of under the bed.  So I grabbed a book, no cover on it,  but it didn't matter.

I'm in the hole. So whatever the book is, I'm going to read it, you know,   lo and behold,  it's the Bible. 

  📍 Had you ever read the Bible at all before? 



  📍 I've read some few scriptures here and there, going to church with my mother every blue moon,  and so,  I'm like, I'm in the hole. 

I remember because I opened it up to the book of Daniel  and I end up standing up all night reading the Bible.   📍 This was my introduction, like  to God and I'm like, but for some reason  I believed everything is wild as the book of Daniel is,  I believed everything in it. 

And so I stayed up all night  the next morning.  It was like six in the morning.   📍 I just prayed. I just got on my knees and I was like, God,  I don't know if I'm too bad   📍 for you to save.   📍 And out of nowhere at the time, I didn't know what was happening to me, but I know now what was the Holy Spirit came on me and I just begin to cry and speak in tongues   📍 And I'm tripping because now the guards are coming to take me to court. But I'm speaking in tongues and I'm like,  I'm like, in my head, I'm like, you're going to think I'm crazy.  You know, I'm like, they're going to think I'm going nuts. And so I'm trying to stop, but it's just, it's flowing, it's flowing.

 And so as they're cuffing me and I'm getting ready to go. As we trail off down the hallway, it's ceased and I go to court and I come back and you get one call. So I call my mom and I'm like, mama, and I just started explaining to her what took place. And that's when she broke down what had happened.  So that was my introduction to really knowing God,  and  it's crazy because it's true. took off from there.  Like, I never asked God to release me.  So my prayer was, I said, God, whatever happens from this point on, I'm just going to serve.  I didn't know what was in front of me. Of course, I wanted to go home, you know, who wants to go through nine and nine.  

,   📍 I ended up getting released from the, uh, from the hole  and they take me up to a mod.  I'm the youngest dude in the mod.  We're having Bible studies in my cell. Like I'm a pastor or something. Yeah. I don't know how or what, but I'm in every night. Everybody's in my cell and I'm reading the Bible,  talking about Jesus, telling them, you know what I'm saying?

What Jesus did. 

 Right. 



  📍 I think about how God uses anybody in any circumstance. He's he's more powerful than our limitations,  right?

  📍 I was just,   📍 it seemed, it was crazy, but it seemed so natural.  Every night we have, we have  drug, drug addicts, you have old enemies,  fresh old enemies of mine now in the cell,  with you, yeah, with mom, reading the Bible and praying.

 It reminds me of that verse from Proverbs that says, when a man pleases God, God makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Yes. Yeah. 

 And I'm living proof that is exactly what happened.  

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍 when you get that piece of paper and you read it and it says 999 years, 99 months, 99 days.

   📍  📍  📍 to heal from that takes every bit of Jesus.

  📍  📍 it's a traumatic experience.

  📍  📍 it hit me the first time I heard my son's voice on the phone. 

  📍 ​

  📍  So during this process, I'm facing this time,  my dad dies, but two nights before he died,  I had a dream.  And in the dream, I had seen my dad in the casket. 

And I woke up, it was like three in the morning. I'm walking, I woke up, I'm crying because it was so real.  I get up the next morning, let us all call my dad. He's still alive.  A day later, he passes.  

 Wow. 

 And so  while I'm facing all this time,  I lose my father.  I'm literally in the county orchestrating a funeral from a prison phone  of my father.  I'm thinking about, I have a little sister, I have a little brother. You know,  and now our dad is gone. And,  but it was amazing because God had given me a strength and a peace. 

Like,  I don't know. To this day, I don't know how I did it. Yeah. Why? Well, I'm like, it was God. I know how it was, but it was just like,  so now my dad dies. I orchestrated his funeral from prison.  I don't get to go. No, because you're a murderer. You're not going to no funeral. And so   now my trial is coming  and I was, I was confident.

Like, I believed that I would go home because I'm like,  well, I didn't, I didn't kill this person.  And I'm like, and there's nobody saying I killed this person. They're just saying I was around.  So the trial comes. It lasts a long trial, two weeks.   At the end, I'm found guilty.  

 What was that  like? You must have been very surprised 

 at the end.

It was. I would. I think I was kind of numb. Like I still, like I said, I just lost my father.  I'm in a position that I've never been in. And  And I, it really didn't hit me. Like,  even after the judge said, they said guilty. I looked back to my family and I just told them like,  it's not over. Like, I never believed that I would serve life in prison. 

 I didn't think I was going to do 25 years either. But,  which I ended up doing 25 years in prison. And so it was just,  it hit me the first time I heard my son's voice on the phone. 

After that? 

After I got found guilty.  I went back to the unit.  Everybody was like, what happened? Because everybody assumed I was going home too.

And I'm like, I got found guilty.  But I was so calm with it, that they didn't believe me. The mob, they're like, man, they're like, quit playing, man. I'm like, nah, I got found guilty.  Yeah. And then, I make a phone call,  and I call my son, who at the time had just turned two. And when I heard his voice, that's when it hit me.  

You had  not been sentenced yet that was that a separate hearing?

  I think about what you're saying. And through my own experiences and  all the way through this process,  it's just a state of constant shock and new experiences that you have never been prepared for, don't know how to make it safely through.

And this is a constant bombardment.  I think it really takes several years to overcome that and get used to a new normal. And by the time you're about ready to help yourself. Time has passed for you to help yourself.  

  📍 It is. It's, it's, it's, I don't believe people realize how traumatic I try. Like, don't get it.

Don't get me wrong. Like I'm not, I was in the street life.  So whatever comes with that, uh, it comes with it. You put yourself in that position,  but it is, it's traumatic. Like that, that is a traumatic experience. Whether you're guilty or not guilty, it's a traumatic experience. And, and  to heal from that takes every bit of Jesus.

It does.   📍 And so you  were sentenced at a later point, and did you know what they were asking for a sentence? Or was that also a surprise?  

 I didn't comprehend. Like I knew, no, like, they told me, uh, um, they, they told them the word, some, some life with parole. Mm hmm.  life with parole, you know,  okay, life with parole,  but it didn't hit until until you actually realized like, hold on,  when you, when you, when you get that piece of paper and you read it  and it says 999 years, 99 months, 99 days.

 Did someone just fall asleep on the keyboard and hit the nine key with their nose? I mean, 

I just,  

your sentence is so bizarre. I mean, I,  I spent time with women who have sentences that are life without parole or life,  which we know is 25 years and you only serve 17. And so I've heard all that  yours is the first sentence where they put a specific number on a real long length of time.

Yes. You know.  

 And so  after you read those numbers and you try to try your best to digest it, you know, like   You shipped off. Yeah. Yeah,  and I was shipped off though and I  Did 13 years in the supermax Oak Park. 

Mm hmm, you 

know and  My whole big like my whole time   I stuck to what I told God.  I said, God, no matter what, I'm going to serve you.

 I never looked back.  All my affiliations,  all the street life, I didn't smoke no weed, I didn't drink no nothing. It's all that's in there. Yeah. I didn't do any of it.  

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍 there were dark days.

  📍  📍  📍 God always lifted me back up. Always.

  📍  📍  📍 I never believed that God was going to leave me in prison

  📍  📍  📍 Over seven appeals and

   📍  📍  📍 I filed and got denied.

  📍  📍  📍 to hear that back to back.

Yeah, well can crush you

 

  📍 ​



  📍 Yeah.  You must have had friends that knew you from the street before you were incarcerated that are incarcerated with you for other, their own stuff.

 

Were they really surprised by the new you? 

 Everybody  was. My family, my aunties used to think, they were like, they were asking my cousins,  is he still crazy? They, cause they couldn't believe like, like, you have to understand, like when I was in the street life,  I really was in the street life. Like I really lived that life.

And so the things that people, the movies and all that, I really did that. That was my lifestyle.  And so when people see you take no, take nothing from nobody and.  broad daylight. They're like, there's no way that this person is serving Jesus like this, like  next to impossible.  And so I'm in there with childhood friends who grew up in the neighborhood with me and they're looking like  everybody thought they was like, man, he's just doing it to go home.

 When did you start to feel like now I have hope that maybe I will go home or what, what made you decide to take action? 

 I never believed that God was going to leave me in prison for the rest of my life from the beginning. Now there were dark days.   📍 Over seven appeals and  they literally told me you're right,  but you ran out of time.  Life   to hear that back to back.

Yeah, well can crush you.   📍 I bet I had times of depression in there. Like you read this, you read this and these people telling you like, yeah,  you're right. 

This fact, this fact, that fact, but you ran out of time.   📍 so  there were trying times, but I go days and I've, and I've been a slump, but God always lifted me back up. Always. The Holy Spirit always lifted me back up, always lifted me back up.

  📍 So what led to your appeals are done. And you've been told seven times. That's not gonna happen. So how did you decide it was a commutation that you were seeking? 

 So this was interesting. It was a guy coming home, going home. He had a, he had a 17 year sentence and he had filed for one and then he came and told me about it like,  hey man,  you should, you should try this. 

And I'm like, you know,  you hopeful? Like, Hey,  what's the worst going to happen?  So I'm like, let me try this.  And I filed and I filed and got denied.  And they didn't give me a reason or nothing.  No hearing or nothing. Just  a flat out denial.   📍 And that was in probably  2011.

Hmm. So I continue living my life, you know what I'm saying? Believing God's going to make a way. And  I get shipped down to, um,  I progressed down to medium custody now.  And  I was just led to try it again.  Somebody on the phone told me like, Hey, why don't you?  Do it now.  The urgency in their voice was like, and so I'm like, okay,   but I didn't do it like I did the last time.  This time  I  did it in faith.  I sent them a release plan, you know, like a whole blueprint. Like, I'm not just asking you to free me. I want you to know that  I thought this process out and I understand that, you know what I'm saying?

The position that I'm putting you in by releasing me and I'm letting you know that if you release me. These things will be beneficial, not just for myself, but for others. 

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍 I'm preparing for this day that now it's canceled. 

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 I went back to my cell that day.  I closed the door.  I prayed,  turned on gospel music and just prayed and just was like, I was like, all right, God. 

  📍  📍  📍 almost two months later,  the mail comes by

  📍  📍  📍 You're hearing data is such as such, such, such,

  📍  📍  📍 I, and I was like, Whoa,  

  📍  📍  📍 It was, it was wild.

  📍 ​

  📍 And you, by this time, if I remember right, had begun to have some communication with the victim's family.

Yes. 

How did that happen? Oh 

yeah. That was wild. Like, um,  this is prior.  The little brother of the victim reached out to me one day  send me his number  and  we begin to talk. I told him, I said, you can ask me whatever you want to ask me. I'm going to give you the truth,  Because I feel like I owed owed this to him and the family. Like you deserve to know  how you lost your big brother. And so  we begin to speak for like three years. He had called. I'll call. We're right. And we just begin to establish a bond. 

You know, I'm a street guy. So initially I'm like,  where this is gonna go  We actually start talking about real Real life like intimate life like You know, his kids, my kids, his family, my family.

 He's from the street. So  in between time, he end up getting sent to the feds. We lose connection,  so by the time  I'm leading up to my commutation, he's now home and we're back talking, but I never even  asked for his help because that's not,  I'm not, that's not his position. Like, like you don't owe me. I owe you. I owe your family. You know what I'm saying? 

  📍 was this an appeal or in a second? 

So I had to file an appeal for them to even consider hearing me. 

 Appeal of the previous denial. Yes. And you were given a court hearing, which was then canceled. 

that  I was supposed to be seen Monday,  Friday before the Monday I get it. I'm sleeping myself. I could knock at my door.  Case manager calls me down to his office. I'm thinking it's a death in the family. So anytime these these type of interactions happens, normally somebody died. And so I'm like, I'm trying to think like, man, who is this?

Oh, my goodness. I get in this  in his office and this whole demeanor is   Somebody died. He and he's like, Gates, I don't want to be the one to tell you this. Um,   but you're hearing is canceled.  I said, so I said, my hearing is canceled. All the hearing is canceled or just mine? He was like, no, your hearing is canceled. 

No reason, no explanation.  All that month and week I'm preparing for this day that now it's canceled.  At this time, it was 23 years. You finally get somebody saying, okay, we're going to hear you out. 

Yeah.  

 And then.  

day before or a couple days before. Yeah. 

 No explanation. No, nothing. So not even a date. If you're even going to hear you again,  I went back to my cell that day.  I closed the door.  I prayed,  turned on gospel music and just prayed and just was like, I was like, all right, God.   📍  📍 And so I go back to living my everyday prison life.

You know, I'm still serving God. I'm still doing my job, you know, and I kept pushing. And almost two months later,  the mail comes by.  It's an envelope.  Department of Corrections, Minnesota. You know, I'm like, okay, I slide it open. 

You're hearing data is such as such, such, such, such, such.  I'm  like, I opened the cell door and I'm on the second galley and I just step out and I didn't even say nothing, but the officer seen it and he just looked up out of all things out of his mouth. He's like, He said, what gets you going home? I guess I looked like I was glowing.

Cause I didn't say anything.  And I, and I was like, Whoa,  you know what I'm saying? I just let it out. I'm like, Whoa.  And so I had a date. I had a time.  You're going to hear me.  

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 I'm like, where everybody at?

They're like, yeah, gate switch in.   📍  📍  📍 It's a lockdown.

  📍  📍  📍 I'm like, this is impossible.

  📍  📍  📍 My heart dropped. 

  📍 ​

 📍 

 You were also going to college during this time and getting a degree.

Yes. And so the hearing was the date of your graduation. 

Yeah, that was, that was bananas.  I go to class the next morning. And the professor is like, Well, this is our first ever graduation. Um, they, they wanted to vote who was going to be the guest speaker, the class speaker.

 He's like, Nah, Kohli, you should do it. Kohli, you I said, I'm not going to be here. I said, I'm going home.   They vote they still want me to speak I'm like listen, I'm going and so I say, okay This is what I do.

I'll be the speaker, but you'd be the backup. Yeah  so December 20th, I Graduate in the morning  I'm the speaker for the graduation   In that afternoon. I'm going to see three. I have to get three unanimous votes to go home. And so This is all on my mind  Going to this graduation.  Now, this is the first time my mother has ever seen me speak.

My older brother has ever seen me speak This is the first time they've seen me in this light. Yeah I didn't see I didn't see my big brother in over 20 years because he was in the feds And so this is our first time actually seeing each other in 20 years  I give my speech to this day. I don't know how the heck I did it.  The president, the president of, uh, MCTC said it was the best graduation speech she had ever heard in 30 years. And I'm like,  it had to be God.  So I leave my graduation to go back to the unit to prepare for my meeting. 

I walk in the unit and the unit's on lockdown. My heart dropped.  I walked back in and I'm like, where everybody at? They're like, yeah, gate switch in. It's a lockdown.  I'm like,  I said, oh, this can't be real.

Cause everybody knows when, when the prison on lockdown.  Everything's canceled. There's no visits. There's no nothing. You're in your cell.  I'm like, this is impossible. Like my hearing is in a couple hours and you're telling me that we're on lockdown.

 The prison does not care that the courts are still operating and you need to be at a hearing. You just don't go. 

 There's all one officer in the unit. No case managers are there.

Like everybody like this. There's nobody I can talk to.  And while I was at my graduation, my celly had moved out the cell. Because he said  , he said I was too calm. That it scared him.  . . And so he moved out.  I don't even know he moved though. 

Yeah. 

I'm going back into the unit thinking I'm, I'm gonna have somebody to bounce this off. Off. Yeah. I'm going into the, in the, into the cell and he's gone. 

Yeah. 

And so it's just me. 

And God. 

Me and God. 

 It's almost like God took everything away from you so that you would only be able to rely on Him and it would be more obvious that it was Him. 

And that's how it went. I went in that cell.  I turned on the gospel music. First thing I did, I turned on the gospel music and I just paced the cell, praying, listening to gospel music. And I'm just praying. The time goes by. My hearing, nobody comes to me, tells me anything. All you hear is postponed, it's canceled.

Again, no nothing.  

  📍  📍 I'm just in the cell. I'm looking at the clock. Three o'clock is gone. 

And that was your hearing time? That was my 

hearing time. It's gone.  I'm like, so I just keep praying. I'm like, alright, here we go again.  Four o'clock comes. Four thirty comes.  Click. My door clicks.  So I open the door. Like, Gates, come down.

I go down.  Again, it's just me and the guard. He's like, um.  You're hearing, uh, get ready for your hearing. So I'm sitting there.  30 minutes past. He's like, Gates, go back to your cell.  I go back to the cell.  I go back to the cell. No explanation. Right. Go back to the cell. I go back to the cell. I'm in the cell.

And I'm just like,  Man.  I can't remember exactly how much time had passed. Eventually my door clicks again. It's like, Gates, go to your hearing.  I go out to sale. I take that whole long walk down the hallway to the to the interview room.  

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 He says, this doesn't add up. Don't make sense.

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 why does he have a life sentence when the actual perpetrator has been home for over eight years now

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 the governor looked, he said,

  📍  📍  📍 you have my vote.

  📍  📍  📍 that's two out of three. Yeah, but you have to have all three. 

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 So the governor looks over to her and he's like, Chief Justice,    📍  📍 want to, request an immediate release.   📍  📍  She's like, no,

 

  📍 ​

  📍  I get there. I'm setting up.  I'm on a big screen.  I have two people that speaking on my behalf. They're there. I'm in the prison on video screen.   I had 15 minutes to speak to  the attorney general and the chief justice of Minnesota.  And so I'm prepared to do that.  What they didn't tell me was that  The 15 minutes was split between  me and my other two speakers.

 There's a literally a blip, a big clock, like the NFL draft.  I mean, literal, it's literally a clock that's 15 minutes on it and it's ticking down literally  and I'm watching the clock tick and I can't tell my two people that, Hey, listen, we have to share this 15 minutes.  They both speak.  I look at the clock when they got done,  it was a minute and 47 seconds.  

Is it still counting down? 

  It paused when it came to me.

So they stopped it at a minute and 47  seconds.  And I'm sitting, I'm sitting at this table  and I couldn't say nothing because I was on mute. My mic was on mute.  So I just had to wait it out.  And  so they look, I got, I got this great presentation that I'm going to give on why, who I am now versus who I was, um,   all that's out the window.

Yeah. I got a minute and 47 seconds to tell these people.  Explain to these people why they should release  

a minute. 47 seconds to explain away 999 years. 

Exactly. 

Yeah. 

 You and you and I both know that's impossible. Yeah. Yeah. And so the greatness of the guy we serve. So  they hit the clock. I get to speaking.

I'm speaking from the top of my head now. Yeah, like I'm freestyling.  But in the midst of my freestyling, I said something  that caused the chief justice  to lean forward.  And it was not a good lean forward.  And so  after I was done speaking,   📍 the chief justice says, 

She has some questions, but she waits on it.  The governor, the governor speaks first.  He said, Mr. Gates,  I have two questions for you. And I'm like, okay, I'm thinking, okay, he wants to understand the case and everything. He says,  one, I want to know  how did you maintain  such excellent behavior and keep a tight family bond under these conditions? 

I wasn't expecting that question. Like out of all the questions I asked, I was not one that I even would have ever thought of reciting.   And so I just told him, I told him the truth. I said,  listen, I believe in Jesus Christ. I live my life every day. Like I believe in every resource that was given to me, whether it was letters, phones, or emails, that's what I did with my family to stay in contact with my family, my friends.

And so we utilize that visits consistently and we just share life with each other. Yeah.   And the governor looked, he said, he said, Mr. Gates, normally we vote at the end. He said, but I'm not going to make you wait.  I just want to let you know right now you have my vote.  I'm like, man,  I'm like, I wasn't, I was, I was, I was blown away because I wasn't expecting, you know what I'm saying?

Like  the question and then the immediate vote.  Then keep Ellison, the attorney general. He, uh.  He's like, he's like, I guess I have a couple of questions as well. But the way he said it, he said it with  authority. Like, I'm like,  okay, here comes the grill.  He's about to grill me about my case.

Yeah. You know, because the way he said it in his posture and  he said, I'm confused about something. He said, um,  the person that actually pulled the trigger  is home and has been home  for years, right? I'm like, I'm like, yes, sir.  He's like, so my second question is  you were the driver of the car, right?  And my sister yells from the audience.

Yeah, I'm like, ah, please be quiet. Like, this is not the time for this. Yeah.  And so, but he accepts her answer. Like, yeah. And I'm like, yes, sir.  He looks at the governor. He says,   this doesn't add up.  Don't make sense.   And the governor looks back like,  and he said, he says,   Why does he, why does he have a life sentence  when the actual perpetrator has been home  for over eight years now   and they went there, they go back and forth.

They must keep Mr. Keep Ellison says, um,  Mr. Guess  I ain't gonna make you wait either. He says, I won't let you know  you have my phone as well.  I'm like,  

 wow, 

that's two out of three.  Yeah, but you have to have all three. Yep. And so now that they passed the microphone to the chief justice, uh, I believe her name is Gilday, if I'm pronouncing it right.

And um,  she said, Mr. Gates,  you said something when you were speaking and she leaned forward and she looked at me and she looked in the camera and she's looking like, and her body language is green. 

 You messed up.  She proceeds when you were speaking, you said you messed up. What do you mean you messed up?  And she said it in like, like,  you don't mess up, you, you know, you know?

And so I just told her, I said,  What I meant by when I messed up is in my life. I realized there were a bunch of little mess ups and mistakes that went unchecked and because they went up check,  they led to this day where this man lost his life because I didn't check those little mess ups.  And she looked and she,   📍 and she sat back  and I'm sitting there.

I'm like,  I'm like, I don't know. No saying like this might, this, this might not be it. So the governor looks over to her and he's like, Chief Justice, you know, I vote where we want to, uh, request an immediate release. She's like,  she's like,  no, she's like, let's,  let's see him in six months.   

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍 I don't know  what  the little brother is going to say. 

  📍  📍  📍 I didn't cry the whole time until I heard him speak.

  📍  📍  📍 He said,  when I first met Coley,

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 I wanted to kill him.

  📍  📍  📍 but then when I got to know him,  even though a lot, I lost a brother and feel like I gained a new brother.

  📍 ​

  📍  And then she was like,  I want to hear from the victim's family now. 

They've had over  three years to contact the victim's family.  So it's not like this was a surprise meeting and nobody was in the notifier. They chose not to be there. And so   then Keith Ellison is like, he changes his vote. He's like,  yeah, I want to hear from the victim's family too.  I'm like,  

 what's going backwards?

No, 

it just went, it went from, but  at this point, I didn't did 24 years. So what? Six more months. Okay. See, I'll be back in six months and we'll figure out what's going on.  Then keep Ellison.  He raises back up. He said,  hold on Mr. Gates.  Didn't you say you talked to the victim's family?

 I said, yes, sir.  Then governor was like, so you have a phone number for him. I said, yes, sir.   He said, can we add a phone number?  I said, no, sir,  

 it must have been so surprised 

 you should have seen everybody.  If you could have seen the faces of the people in the audience and there's people on the panel and everybody on the panel was looking like,  like what? 

This is your opportunity for release. And the answer is no, you can't have it. 

Yes. And so he's the governor's looking like,  why not? And so he's like,  basically,  why not? I said, listen,  I don't feel like. They owe me anything.  I'm not going to just bring this and put them in this position.  And he was like,  he grabbed his mic.

He said,   I don't know why he grabbed the mic, cause we still heard him.  But he was like,  I know this has never been done before, but let's pause the meeting so he can go back and call next. We can talk to him.  And so they paused the meeting,  send me back to the unit that's on lockdown  to use the phone to call.

The victim's little brother. Yeah.  So I call him.  I call,  no answer.  Hmm. I called three times,  no answer. Hmm. I called my mother and have her text him.  Still  no answer.  I call again, no answer.  At this point, I'm sitting at the phone booth like this. I'm like, I said,  I literally took the phone. I was like,  Lord, please let this dude answer the phone. 

Dial again.   Hello?  He's like, bro,  what's wrong?  Cause I don't never call like this. He's like, bro, what's wrong?  I said, I said, listen, I'm, I'm sitting in front of the, uh, Governor, and they wanna, They asked me for your number, cause they want to talk to you. He said,  why don't you give them the number? I said, bro, you don't owe me nothing.

I said, I'm not just giving them your number. He said,  man, give them the number. And so,   I hang up the phone,  run back down the hallway.  They proceed with the meeting. I tell them, Hey, listen,  this is the number.  The governor again tells his staff, he says, I know the number. We've never done this before,  but does somebody have a cell phone? 

 It wasn't even his cell phone. Like he borrowed a phone from 

the commissioner of the DOC. He called him for Paul Snell's cell phone. Like,  and puts him on, he's like, he explains to him before he puts them on speaker, do you know what's going on? And they had a conversation.

Then he puts them on speaker.   Now, to this point, I don't know  what  the little brother is going to say. 

Yeah. 

Like, we're good,  but that doesn't mean he wants me home. Cause, you know what I'm saying? Like, we built a relationship,  but at the end of the day, this was his big brother. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

 And so, I don't know what he's going to say. He could say, I love him, but  no, we don't want him home. But, or could we slow, get him home in a few years? You know, he could say anything.  The governor's passes to the chief justice who wanted to speak to him.  And she's like, do you understand what's going on?

 He's like, yes. Um, she was like, what, what is your fat? What is your family or what's your opinion concerning the situation with Mr. Gates?  And he tells her, he says,  if you asking me, my, he said, if you're asking me,  I'm asking y'all to release him right now.   📍  And then he goes into his, his spiel. He said,  and this is the first time I didn't cry the whole time until I heard him speak.

Like what he said made me cry. He was like,   I know this doesn't make sense to a lot of people. He said,  when I first met Coley,   kill him.  He's like, I grew up in the streets.  I wanted to kill him. He said,  but then when I got to know him,  even though a lot, I lost a brother and  feel like I gained a new brother. 

He said, every time my life is going sideways, it's him that's speaking, speaking me, speaking to me to get me to change the course.  He said, he saved my life so many times by just our conversations. He said,  so if you're asking me,   We need him out here.  Now  I'm crying.   Everybody in the audience is like, they seen a ghost. Like what?  The  governor looks over to chief justice. He's like,   and she's like,  you got my vote.   📍 ​ 



  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 When I left, I literally   📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 got in the van and   📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 turned my back to the prison and   📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 didn't even look as they pulled off. I didn't look back. 

   📍  📍  📍 I was caged for 25 in a cage, you know?

  📍  📍  📍 even though I believe God was going to come get me,

   📍  📍  📍 there was moments of doubt for sure.

   📍  📍  📍 I had nine and 99 years. He came and got me.

  📍  📍  📍 the greatness of God

  📍  📍  📍 you can't make that up.

  📍 ​

  📍 

 And that I have been to pardon and commutation hearings for other friends of mine. I have seen all of that, not your story, but  I've seen all this type firsthand and  I have never seen the Chief Justice say yes,  ever.

 For anyone watching your story is, I know more than shocking.

It's, it is the impossible happening 

 and it's so shocking because I didn't know that day. That she had personally denied 27 other people. 

I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't go into the meeting. I had no idea that  like  27 other people have been  no,  no,  no,  no,  no. Yeah.  Me and my best friend who are both  men of God went the same day and we didn't know.   I was, I was the first one to get immediate release,  but he was also granted his and he had a lot,  he had a life sentence plus.

Wow. 

  And so on the same day, me and my best friend both were told we were going home at different times, but we were both going home. 

And your story about  being emotional at the moment that the victim's brother was speaking 

 that was, that was an experience. I couldn't have scripted it. Never in my entire time of being incarcerated, the 25 years did I ever think that  it would come to that.  You know what I'm saying? Yeah.  The victim's family  was part of my saving. Yeah. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like,  you can't make that up.

Like,  and then the greatness of God, like For me, I feel like God came and got me. Yes. You know what I'm saying? He, he came and got, I had nine and 99 years. He came and got me. 

Yeah. 

Like  I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn 

it.  It was a gift.  And it reminds me too. I'm going to, I'm going to get the Bible here so I can read it accurately.

  📍 Proverbs 27 to,  uh, or one and two, do not boast of yourself and tomorrow for you know not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips. And so  it sounds like that's exactly what you had on your mind. And God's going to fight for you.  You were just putting in the work and then leaving the results up to God  Yeah, so you did you go you went home that same day?

No, I was supposed to go home the first week of January. I actually didn't make it home  This how special God is. I actually got released on Valentine's Day. 

Oh  Yes 

 Like actually I actually went home on Valentine's Day 

 That is awesome. And so what was that like walking out the door? 

  📍 Man, 

whoo.  

 It's, it's,  I don't even, I don't got words that could describe that feeling like  you, I was caged for 25 in a cage, you know?

So it's like,  and even though I believe God was going to come get me,  there wasn't easy years of, you know, there was moments of doubt for sure. Yeah. And so.  When I left, I literally got in the van and turned my back to the prison and didn't even look as they pulled off. I didn't look back.  Yeah, I literally turned my back and I just watched the van ride off  and  I, and I just,  

yeah, 

yeah. 

  📍 ​

  📍  📍  📍 The only time you win   📍  📍 is when you accept Christ and eternal life is given to you.

  📍  📍 That's the win.

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 a lot of people thought I was crazy, but I said, God is going to release me.   📍  📍 And when it happened,  they were like, Whoa.

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 There's men in prison right now to this day who are serving God  because of what God did in and through me and for me.

 

  📍  📍 ​

  📍 how long ago was that? 

 It's been a year and  Almost, almost a year and a half, yes.  

 Is this the time where you've written the three books or did you write some of those while you were incarcerated? No, 

I read, I wrote.   📍 The three books in prison, I published my book on common sense.

We are bigger than the box you put us in  from the phone in prison and it's on Amazon right now.  My other two books, If My Tears Could Talk, is finished and I'm about to release it. And then my life story, which is titled The Game With No Winners,  which I completed out here, started in there, completed it out here.

So explain for the people watching what the title means. 

Oh, so the game with no winners is I realize that  the life. live without God. I don't care what life it is, whether it's in the streets, whether it's corporate, there's not a win in there.   The only time you win is when you accept Christ and eternal life is given to you.

That's the win. Yeah. That's the only win we have. Yeah. Everything we have, everything other, other than that, it perishes.  You can't take your money with you. The street life doesn't, you never win in the street life. I don't care how far you get it.  You'll pay for it in the end.  But when Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.

Yes. 

That's the win. 

It is.  I just like quoting Tozer Tozer and C. S. Lewis, but he said yes, every Follower of Jesus should be a walking miracle the kind of person who can never be explained  and that sounds You Like what your life was as you were incarcerated and are now free.

 And that's what the testimony has been.  Your testimony is not for use for others. Yes. There's men in prison right now to this day who are serving God  because of what God did in and through me and for me.

Yeah. Like not me. But what God did, they seen God, they know they, they were in their cells next to me and they remember me telling them I was going to go home, God going to get me out.  And a lot of people thought I was crazy, but I said, God is going to release me.   And when it happened,  they were like, Whoa.

 How is your family taking your reception back into re entry? They must be delighted that you're here, your son. 

Yes, I have a son and a daughter and two grandchildren. Yeah. And my mother's still alive, thank God, and my stepfather.  It's new.

You know, I'm a new person. Yeah. I'm not the same person I was when I went in. And so, there's an adjustment in that area. Yeah. You know, but it's a beautiful thing because my entire family is so excited. 

 I get asked, you must get asked, um, what were challenges that I had to overcome on re entry?



 I, I have this thing, the Holy Spirit revealed to me one day, and I always tell people,  I don't have problems, I have opportunities. 

So whatever comes my way, that somebody may label a problem. I don't label that.  It's an opportunity to grow, to give, to love, whatever. And so  challenges.  Yes.  I think the biggest challenge for me was relationships. I realized that   everybody had a vision of what my freedom would mean for them  versus what it meant for me.

Not, not good or bad or anything, but you know, they love you.  They've had this picture that they've painted. The whole time you've been gone, because they love you, and you have this,  but when you're, when their vision and your actuality meet,  that's where things get challenging, you know?  What, I'm learning that along this journey, like,  whatever comes, God got me.  I just got to stay the course. You know what I'm saying? How? Whatever it looks like. Ain't no sense of me anxious about it, fearful about it or mad about it.

I just got to trust and believe because I don't believe in coincidences or accidents. So whatever is coming into my life,  God has allowed for whatever reason. If he's allowed it and there's a purpose and let's go with it. 

 I want to have you back here as a guest when you finish publishing these other books that you, just told us about and then you can maybe share more of your story.  Yeah. Yeah.  So.  Well, I am going to wrap it up then. And for everyone watching,   📍  📍 for more great stories like this one, you can watch the spotlight series on holly bot. me and follow like subscribe, leave comments. We like to hear your encouraging words for our guests and for  me. So thank you for being with us and watching.

   📍 ​