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Virginia Beach — In the year since he walked out of a state prison, a free man for the first time in his adult life, Travion Blount has accomplished several key firsts.
He applied to and was hired for a job — and then three others. He got his driver’s license and learned new technology. He’s also been catching up with family and working out, often running up and down Mount Trashmore.
“I can put all my thoughts and dreams into action,” Blount said with a smile Friday from his home in Virginia Beach.
Not so long ago, he and his supporters were in a fight for his freedom.
Blount, 30, served 14 years for participating in an armed robbery at a Norfolk house party when he was 15. His sentence of 118 years plus six life sentences may have been the harshest punishment delivered to an American teenager for a crime not involving murder.
First Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell reduced his sentence to 40 years, then Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a pardon in 2018, further reducing Blount’s sentence to 14 years.
Blount celebrated the one-year anniversary of his release Friday by spending time with family and, in pandemic fashion, participating in a Zoom call with several people who were part of his journey out of the criminal justice system.
“Advocating for his freedom has been an emotional, amazing ride,” said Monique Santiago, who fought for Blount while he was locked up and now lives with him. “I knew he was coming home. I knew it, and I spoke it into the universe.”
That kind of hope was essential to Blount’s perseverance, and he said his family held that hope throughout the years.
“You need that support and family and friends to keep that hope alive,” he said. “If they believe you’re coming home, you believe you’re coming home.”
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Blount thanked several people on the Zoom call for their help in his release, including his attorney, John Coggeshall, and McAuliffe. Several on the call spoke of the need for criminal justice reform to prevent sentences such as the one Blount received. Coggeshall said Virginia needed to reinstate parole, and McAuliffe, who is again running for governor, agreed.
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Santiago got to know Blount while he was in prison, which makes little things now, like getting texts or him requesting spaghetti for dinner, feel special. Santiago calls Blount her “bonus son.”
Blount said there were some challenges after he was released. Having gone to prison at 17, he’d never applied for a job, and there was years of technology to catch up on — when he went away, most people didn’t have smartphones, and Netflix mainly meant DVDs in the mail. But his family and Santiago are always there to help. Blount stayed close with his family while he was in prison, so much so that when he returned home, “It felt like I never left.”
Since he got out, Blount found an additional support system in others who’ve served prison time, including Lenny Singleton, another of Coggeshall’s clients who faced life in prison until receiving a pardon from McAuliffe.
Blount has worked cleaning and construction jobs in the past year — he’s nursing a spine injury that he expects to recover from shortly. His longer-term goal is to work in personal training, a passion hampered right now by the pandemic, and to work with those in the prison system.
Blount’s case stems from a house party he helped rob in 2006. He and two friends robbed house party guests of cash, marijuana and cellphones. No shots were fired during the robbery, but one of Blount’s friends pistol-whipped a partygoer.
The friends, both 18 at the time of the robbery, admitted their involvement and received sentences of 10 and 13 years. Blount’s family and attorney asked him to do the same, but Blount turned down a deal that would have resulted in a 14-year sentence. At trial, he was convicted on 49 of 51 felonies.
Josh Reyes, 757-247-4692, joreyes@dailypress.com