Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers - once upon a time not too long ago, just the mention of his name in Belize City could inspire fear and dread. Indeed, he was known as a ruthless gang-affiliated killer - and even though he was never convicted of murder, his reputation preceded him. And then in April of 2010, we got news - confirmed by his own family in Belize - that he had been killed in Salt Lake City, Utah. Turns out he had been shot in the face and hand, but survived. We found that out in December of 2010, when news reports burst out of Salt Lake City again that he had killed a man in a high-rise apartment. Newspaper reports out of Salt Lake said that he could face life in prison for one count of of first-degree felony murder.
But, he refused a plea deal, pleaded not guilty, and was acquitted by a jury in state court, which is when he came under federal indictment. In Federal court, he beat the charge again, but was sentenced to time for the gun which he turned over to police after the Salt Lake killing. Now after serving almost three years in prison, he's back in Belize. He was deported last week Thursday, and today we met him at the CYDP office where he told us why he was "gone 'til November":...
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers
"It feels good to be in Belize and alive and still have life and could show good things and do good things."
Jules Vasquez
"So many people in Belize think that either you are dead because of the 2010 report that all the media had carry saying that you had been killed or that you are in prison serving a long sentence."
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers
"In my situation I was innocent and so I prove that I was innocent. So the State and the Federal Government didn't have anything to do with me because I was innocent, but why I killed that man - in self-defense. It's not because to take away someone life. I don't want to take anybody's life because I am not God, I don't create life."
Jules Vasquez
"Now, you've returned, I am meeting you here at the CYDP Office, explain to me what was your mission? What is your thinking upon return to Belize?"
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers
"To try to be a better person and to try live a better life and do right; if I could help somebody I would. I would just encourage somebody to do right and let them know that you have to work for everything in life - you have to push the issue. You can't just go out there doing anything and try taking advantage of your own people. I don't know by killing your own people will make any difference, it will only make it worse."
Jules Vasquez
"What are the events that led you to say "I need to change my life.""
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers
"Well the many things that I've been through God keep out looking for me, so I have to take that as a warning. Many times I've been there do a lot of stuff that I do wrong. I don't want to do wrong, so I am trying to do better this time."
"I am willing to forgive anybody that they think I did wrong to them. If I did wrong to anybody I would like to say sorry. I don't want they hold me accountable for something they think I do or hear of somebody say I do when I never did."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you concerned that you might still have people in Belize who feel they have a beef with you or they have a score to settle with you from the old days?"
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers
"I don't know because I didn't do anything to anybody. Its hearsay and people calling you name. I don't have anything with anybody and I don't expect anybody to have anything with me, but this is life, you can't trust anything still. I will still live a positive life and live right and stay away from the negative, that's all."
Jules Vasquez
"Many people probably in law enforcement who might say that "Big Tom" is fronting, "Big Tom" aint about change, he just trying to get heat off his back because he is back in town and he don't want to be detained constantly or harassed constantly - he is just doing a sales pitch."
Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers
"It's like how they say; they could see your face but they can't see your heart. Once they see my movement and how I am living then they will know. People only can say things until they see your behavior and see how you live. That is the time when time will tell. The example has to start with me, if it doesn't start with me it can't start with anybody else. I have to do it so people can know that I have a real different mind and different way how I think and how I am supposed to live."
Flowers has volunteered to assist at CYDP.
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