Damon West

The angels in my story don't have wings.

They have assault rifles and shields and helmets.

And they're coming through the doors.

They bust the windows.

They bust the door off the hinges.

But Dallas SWAT saves my life that day.

I don't see it as that at the time.

Less than a year later, we're standing in that courtroom on May 18th, 2009.

The case is over.

Six days of trial.

They're property crimes, so no one ever got physically hurt.

The jury goes to deliberate for 10 minutes.

And man, that's a terrible sign.

Because if a jury's gone for 10 minutes, it means they smoked you.

They brought me back in the courtroom and they read my sentence out loud.

Damon Joseph West, you are hereby sentenced to 65 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Mick, 65 years in the state of Texas is a life sentence in the state of Texas.

The jury gave me life that day, or as they say in prison terms, six dimes and a nickel.

So it's a good place to start this story, though, Mick.

Yeah, here's where I would say what the answer to that question was.