Georgetown University students help free innocent man

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Crowds erupted in cheering as Valentino Dixon walked out of a courthouse in Buffalo, New York on Wednesday.

“It’s really hard to describe how it felt seeing him released after working for it for so long,” said Ellie Goonetillake, a Georgetown University graduate.

Goonetillake and two other Georgetown University students took a deeper look at Valentino Dixon’s case as a part of a “Prison Reform Project” course. They argued that Dixon was in jail for more than 26 years for a murder that he didn’t commit.

“It hasn’t really set in yet just how much of an impact we are able to make and it makes me so happy that students could achieve something like that,” Goonetillake said.

Their hard work paying off as Dixon walked free on Wednesday.

“I honestly don’t know if they realize what they’ve accomplished. I don’t know if they realize how enormous it is, what they succeeded in doing,” said their professor, Marc Howard.

“His whole family was gathered there and there was this great cheer and everyone was clapping and crying and they had to say, ‘Order in the courtroom!’ because everyone was so, so excited and happy,” Goonetillake recalled.