Shivangi Sinha
In the late 1990s, Kevin Saxon was a well-known drug dealer operating in New York City. His involvement in criminal activities began during his teenage years. In 1990, while serving time in prison, he fatally stabbed a fellow inmate. A decade later, while on parole in 2000, he shot and killed another drug dealer, Richard Gaines. Although initially arrested on drug charges, authorities eventually built a murder case against him. In Netflix’s episode of ‘I Am a Killer’ titled ‘Choices,’ Saxon reflects on his criminal past and takes responsibility for his actions while also making an appeal for a chance at parole.
Kevin Saxon Started Getting Involved in Gang Activities Since He Was a Teenager
Kevin Saxon was born on May 1, 1970, in Harlem, New York. He grew up in the Lincoln Projects area, surrounded by violence, drugs, and various illegal activities. His mother struggled with alcohol dependency, and at a young age, Saxon went to live with his grandparents, which he described as the few good years of his life. When he was around six or seven years old, his father came to take him to live with him. The following years were extremely difficult for Saxon. He claimed that his father subjected him to both physical and emotional abuse, recalling an incident where his father made him fight back after he was attacked by a group of older kids.
Saxon explained that crime was the only life he knew, and by his teenage years, he had already begun engaging in petty offenses. In 1986, at the age of 16, he was arrested for robbery and sentenced to 11 months in juvenile detention. Upon his release, he quickly turned to selling hard drugs and was recruited by a drug gang operating out of a tower in his neighborhood. In 1989, he was arrested again for his involvement in a shooting in the area controlled by his gang, leading to his incarceration at Rikers Island. Saxon described the environment at Rikers as unlike anything he had experienced before, but he eventually befriended Terrence “T-Lo” Smith while there.
Saxon recounted that someone had informed T-Lo that he was plotting against him, leading to an altercation between the two on February 6, 1990. During the confrontation, a shank was drawn, and Saxon ended up stabbing his friend, which resulted in T-Lo’s death. As a result, he was charged with the crime, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to 15 years. At the time, he had a wife and a son and stated that he made every effort to reform himself during his time in prison. In 1999, he was released on parole and began living a law-abiding life.
Kevin Saxon Claimed that He Never Intended to Kill Gaines When He Shot Him
Kevin Saxon explained that his ex-wife was going through financial difficulties at the time, and he was determined to provide his son with everything he wanted. He wanted to give him the care and support that he felt he never received from his own parents, which led him back into the drug trade. Money and power quickly became central to his life. In September 2000, Saxon had an encounter with another drug dealer from the area, Richard Gaines, who took offense at a small comment Saxon made about money. He said he had known Gaines for a long time and never expected the situation to escalate. However, their verbal arguments intensified, and when Gaines publicly challenged Saxon in front of his son, he felt deeply disrespected.
On September 18, 2000, Saxon claimed that he was driving down the road when he spotted Richard Gaines. He said he got out of his car and shot him twice, intending only to scare and injure him. However, Gaines lost his life as a result of the shooting. On May 22, 2001, Saxon was arrested on drug charges, and the police had already identified him as a suspect in Gaines’s murder. As they worked to build the case, a news report was published suggesting that he killed Gaines because they were business rivals and that he had tried to kill him before. Saxon denied these allegations, stating that the incident was an accident and that he never intended to kill Gaines.
Kevin Saxon is Serving a Life Sentence Today
On June 11, 2002, Kevin Saxon was found guilty of second-degree murder and other drug-related charges. He was sentenced to 109 years in prison without the possibility of parole. The prosecutors who built the case against him argued that he was a dangerous individual who had terrorized the neighborhood for years and needed to remain behind bars. Saxon, however, has appealed and acknowledged the crimes he committed but emphasized that he was a product of his circumstances and deserves a chance to reform himself and apply for parole. Now 54 years old, Saxon is incarcerated at the Five Points Correctional Facility in New York, and he won’t be eligible for parole until 2098, meaning he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.
