%%Post image thumbnail below.%%  # Episode Overview > - **Date Aired:** [[11-21-2023]] > - **Title:** [[Jimmie Gardner]] > - **Episode:** 262 > - **Description:** A full deep dive into the arrest of [[Stacey Abrams]] brother-in-law, and the trail of media omissions and lies that have led to him being portrayed as a blameless martyr of an unjust sentence. > - **Link:** <https://rumble.com/v3x59wm-big-dig-energy-262-jimmie-gardner.html> # Replay %% Get embed URL then highlight and hit ALT + I%% <iframe src="https://rumble.com/embed/v3ujw7s/?pub=6eeyh" allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" style="height:100%;width:100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; "></iframe> <br> # Greetings & Announcements # Segments ## Jimmie Gardner If you've been living under a rock, last Friday, in the wee hours of the morning, a man named [[Jimmie Gardner]], the brother-in-law of [[Stacey Abrams]], was [arrested](http://archive.today/CTUta) in Tampa, Florida on charges of human trafficking, lascivious touching of a minor, and battery.  A [press release](https://archive.is/PY0et) reads: **A MAN EXONERATED AFTER 27-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE ON RAPE CHARGES NOW FACES HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHARGES INVOLVING 16-YEAR-OLD VICTIM IN TAMPA**  > TAMPA, FL (November 17, 2023) — Jimmie Gardner, **a youth motivational speaker and brother-in-law of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate [Stacey Abrams](https://www.bigdigenergy.info/Stacey-Abrams)**, is facing ==**serious charges of human trafficking**== and is currently in jail in Hillsborough County with no bond. Gardner is scheduled to face a judge in first appearance court in Tampa tomorrow. > > Tampa Police arrested Gardner this morning ==**after his 16-year-old victim**== called police to report **Gardner committed sex acts on her at the Renaissance Hotel at International Plaza.** **His victim says Gardner paid her money and later became angry and choked her when she refused to have sex. His booking charges include human trafficking, lewd and lascivious touching of certain minors, and battery.** > > **Gardner, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1984, was ==wrongly convicted in the 1987 sexual assault of two women in West Virginia.== He was exonerated in 2016 and released from prison 27 years after his wrongful conviction. ==Two years later, he married Georgia Federal Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner.== He currently lives in Georgia and works as a motivational speaker and emotional intelligence trainer for students and people who were formerly incarcerated.** > > "Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Our attorneys will prosecute this case as we would any other offender who is alleged to have committed these crimes. We take these charges very seriously," said State Attorney Suzy Lopez. On Saturday, November 18, 2023, a judge "[set his bond](https://archive.is/4ceUx) at $500,000 despite his attorney, Jeff Brown, being present to argue that Gardner is not a threat to the community."  > **"He played baseball out of here, he's well known here, he was down here as a motivational speaker for a seminar," Brown said.** > > **Also present in the courtroom was his wife, Georgia federal judge Leslie Abrams, who flew down from Albany, Georgia to support her husband. She is the sister of Stacey Abrams, who ran for Georgia Governor in 2018.** > > According to authorities, 57-year-old Gardner made contact with a 16-year-old girl around 1:40 a.m. Friday and invited her back to his room at the Renaissance Hotel at International Plaza. > > Investigators said when she arrived, Gardner offered the girl money in exchange for sex, which she initially agreed to before changing her mind. > > ==**That's when Gardner reportedly became angry - telling the girl she needed to leave the hotel room, which sparked a verbal argument that quickly became physical when Gardner started choking her.**== > > Police said they found the victim at the scene when they arrived, but Gardner had already left the hotel. > > ==**He later turned himself in to Tampa Police.**== > > In 1984, Gardner was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. Five years later, Gardner was wrongly convicted in the 1987 sexual assault of two women in West Virginia. > > He was exonerated and released from prison in 2016. > > "I've been fighting for this and I believe in God and praise," Gardner said in an interview with WHCS FOX 11 after being released. > > In the years after his release, Gardner became an advocate for criminal justice reform and inmate rights, and often spoke in Tampa. We started digging into this on Saturday night, albeit fairly casually. Some of the insistence on Gardner's previous "exoneration" and good deeds seemed incredibly off, and obviously the connection to two influential women in politics and the judicial system is always going to be somewhat tittilating. However, on Saturday night, we started to realize that someone (unsure who) was actively in the process of deleting Jimmie Gardners Digital Footprint from the internet. (See: [[JG Digital Footprint]]) Well. We can't have that, can we?  By archiving the cache of Gardner's deleted Facebook, I was able to discover something fairly funny and also yet another jumping-off point for this deep dive: Jimmie Gardner was in Tampa, Florida "as a motivational speaker for a seminar," according to his lawyer, Jeff Brown. — **Source: <https://archive.is/4ceUx**> According to a post from [November 2nd](https://www.bigdigenergy.info/Jimmie-Gardner-Footprint#Posts) on Gardner's since-deleted Facebook, the "seminar" was for the 20-year anniversary of the Florida Innocence Project.   Gardner has been involved with the Florida Innocence Project since at least 2021, and gave another speech for them on October 2, 2021. — **Source: <https://archive.is/bkbhm**>  On that post from 2021, a graphic of Gardner is included, which describes him as a "friend and board member of Georgia Innocence Project.   Gardner is indeed listed as a board member for the Georgia Innocence Project (a 501c3 nonprofit since 2002), for Tax Years 2020 and 2021. > [!grid|masonry] >  >  > >  And on October 2, 2019, Gardner spoke to "over 1,200 students in over a dozen Georgia schools" for a Georgia Innocence Project event called "Wrongful Conviction Day" along with seven others, including Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce. — **Source: <https://archive.is/Y1FN6**> > [!grid|masonry] >  > >  **The TLDR of this introduction is this:** Just five hours after Jimmie Gardner gave a speech about prison reform and wrongful incarceration to a nonprofit he sits on the board of in another state, he was arrested and charged with human trafficking after trying to pay for sex with a 16-year-old and choking her after an argument.  So, given that someone was actively trying to delete his internet presence and his lawyer was already trying to gloss over his behavior in Tampa, I got out the shovel and started to dig. ### The Rose-Colored Lens of the Media Across the web, almost every article relating to Gardner, as well as his numerous social media profiles and speaking engagement booking platforms, Jimmie's story is obfuscated to the point of comedy. Take for example, this article from [June 15, 2022](https://archive.is/IvNoS) from WALB10:  > ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - There are a number of men and women throughout the U.S. who have been impacted by wrongful convictions, but one man is determined to see a change in the justice system. > > This month's "Lifting Up With Lenah" turns to a criminal justice reform advocate who uses his personal experience to help the wrongfully and rightfully convicted. > > Here's his story. > > Jimmie C. Gardner was a former professional baseball player for the Chicago Cubs. Gardner played in the minor leagues from 1984 to 1988, but during his season in 1987, his world turned upside down. > > ==**At the time, Gardner was playing with the Charleston Wheelers in Charleston, West Virginia when a couple of sexual assault cases with two women surfaced. He was later charged with the crime along with robbery, burglary and assault during the commission of a felony.**== > > In 1990, he was convicted and sentenced to 110 years. Gardner said he knew he was innocent. > > "I fought for my liberty and my freedom for a period of 27 years before I proved my innocence and was exonerated of all charges, and that was April 1, 2016, and I was exonerated of all charges September 7, 2016," he said. "And that's what led me to do the work that I do." > > Through his experience, Gardner said it's created a passion within him to fight for the voiceless that lie within the justice system. > > "I believe that individuals have encountered disparities and sentences, unjust in illegal types of prosecutions, so I kind of fight for all those that don't have voices," he said. > > Gardner's passion has led him to establish his motivational speaking business "JC Gardner Speaks". Through that, he said he's been able to strengthen his voice for the voiceless and continue sharing his and others' experiences in the justice system. > > Gardner said the number of wrongly convicted men and women goes into the thousands and continues to grow every day. > > "Currently there are 3,150 exonerees throughout the United States and abroad and from those 3,150 exonerees, we still believe that there are countless others that haven't had the opportunity to be reviewed through the courts and had an opportunity to get rulings on their case and provide new evidence to the courts on behalf of their innocence," he said. > > Gardner said his role on the board of the Georgia Innocence Project has allowed him to help change the number of people impacted by wrongful convictions. > > He encourages others to join criminal justice organizations to help fight against injustices in the criminal system. He also said he encourages others to pursue their education as that was one thing he did during his 27 years in prison. > > Gardner earned three associate's degrees and numerous certificates during his incarceration. Most recently, he earned his bachelor's degree in communications at Chapman University in California. He said he always knew education was important. > > "My position is, in order to truly have a chance in life, you have to be informed and information comes in a lot of different areas," he said. " Education is very vital and key and knowledge is infinite and I believe we must continue to learn and grow, so I applied it to my own life." In a profile on [Engage](https://archive.is/adv9l), which is a hub meant to "find, book, & experience the industry's best speakers," you can find a [profile](https://archive.is/iduAB) for Jimmie. (As of the morning of 11-21-2023.)  In this seven-paragraph profile, two paragraphs stand out. > Jimmie's blessed life **took an extraordinary turn in 1987** while he was playing with the Charleston Wheelers in Charleston, West Virginia. Two elderly white women were sexually assaulted by a black male, and over 140 black men in the city, including Jimmie, were rounded up by the police. **Because there was no forensic evidence connecting him to the crime** and because he did not match the description of the attacker, Jimmie was cleared and went on with his life. > > **Two years later in 1989, Jimmie was back in Tampa when he was arrested, extradited to West Virginia, and charged with sexual assault, robbery, burglary, and assault during the commission of a felony.** In January of 1990, after a travesty of a trial with an inexperienced public defender, blatant prosecutorial misconduct, false testimony from the forensic expert, and numerous trial errors, Jimmie was acquitted regarding one victim and convicted regarding the other—despite evidence that the same person committed both crimes. He was sentenced to 110 years. **Wrongful Conviction with Jason Florn — March 12, 2018** On this podcast, [Jimmie discusses](https://www.bigdigenergy.info/Jimmie-Gardner-1987#March+2018) the racism involved in his conviction. Note that his wife was also a guest on the show with him. <iframe src="https://omny.fm/shows/wrongful-conviction-1/048-jason-flom-with-jimmie-gardner/embed?style=Cover" width="100%" height="180" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write" frameborder="0" title="#048 Jason Flom with Jimmie Gardner"></iframe> **09:40:** In your case, it's very clear that what happened to you was deliberate on the part of not just one person, but several people who, for reasons I'll never understand, just decided that they were going to pin a horrendous, inexplicable crime on you. **11:20:** And during the season, I mean, when these crimes occurred, these horrific crimes occurred, the Charleston Police Department was basically gathering information and rounding up blacks from all over the city. There were over a hundred and I believe a hundred and forty or a hundred plus African Americans male that were rounded up and taking to the police department fingerprinted photos and things of that order, including myself and about six black guys off the baseball team. All of us we're actually taken to the police department fingerprinted photo. They told me nothing matched. **Another Gardner Site** A separate [Squarespace site](https://archive.is/8XhMt) for Gardner tells an analogous tale:  > In 1989, ==**while still working towards his business degree**==, Jimmie was arrested and charged with two separate counts of robbery and sexual assault; as well as burglary and assault-during-the-commission-of-a-felony. He did not commit the crimes and always maintained his innocence, however, he was put on trial in January 1990. Jimmie was found guilty a month later in February 1990, and was sentenced to 110 years in prison. There's a slightly awkward problem with the evasive phrasing of this: In 1989, Gardner was already serving a six-year prison sentence for threatening a hotel room full of people with a gun. **November 1, 1987** — [Holdup ends when suspect gets shot](https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times-jimmie-gardner-arrested/135503465/) — Tampa Bay Times > [!grid|masonry] >  >  **Note:** November 1, 1987 was a Sunday. This means the robbery occurred on Saturday, October 31, 1987. So when Gardner was sentenced in 1990, it was due to a matching fingerprint that was taken from his gun in the crime in Tampa. **[March 6, 1990](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-jimmie-gardner-sentenced/135502722/)** — The Times  **[March 6, 1990](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pantagraph-jimmie-gardner-sentenced/135502868/)** — The Pantagraph  An [article from 2016](https://archive.is/9roEz) gives us a great overview for where to dig next:  > The road home proved to be windy, long and filled with countless obstacles. To understand Gardner's story, you have to go back to the 80's, when he was a pitcher for the Charleston Wheelers. > > On the morning of May 16, 1987, a mother and daughter were getting ready to have coffee on their patio of their home on Virginia Avenue in Kanawha City. The elderly mother was brutally attacked and the daughter was raped. Cash and a cassette player were stolen from the home. > > Two months later, another woman was sexually assaulted in her home in Kanawha City. > > Both women said their attacker was black and Charleston police started zeroing in on Wheelers players who played at nearby Watt Powell Park. There were more than 100 suspects. > > ==**Years went by with no arrests, until a bloody fingerprint left at the first scene came back as a match on Gardner after he was arrested for a crime in Florida.**== > > Gardner went on trial and was found not guilty of the second sexual assault, but he was convicted for the crimes against the mother and daughter. The jury found him guilty of sexual assault, robbery, felony assault, and breaking and entering. > > Gardner recalls the words from Judge Paul Zakaib before he was sentenced to up to 110 years in prison. > > ==**"He said, 'you are a menace to society and it gives me the pleasure to give you the maximum on every charge.' And I said, 'I'll be back."**== > > Now, disgraced West Virginia State Police serologist Fred Zain was a critical expert witness for the state during Gardner's trial. In the years following Gardner's trial, Zain was investigated and found to have a long history of falsifying evidence in criminal prosecutions. > > In 1993, the West Virginia State Supreme Court ruled that all prisoners whose cases Zain testified in during his 12 years could ask for new trials. They had to first submit to new DNA tests. > > Gardner was one of those cases. > > "I personally thought that I was about to get my relief and go home," Gardner recalls of the ruling. > > ==**Judge Zakaib ruled that Zain's testimony was not a major factor in Gardner's conviction and denied his request for a new trial.**== > > The state supreme court ordered three times that Gardner be given a full evidentiary hearing in front of Zakaib, but that never happened. > > "In order for me to have been able to get relief at any level, I would have had to have a ruling and I just never got a ruling," Gardner said. > > A federal judge stepped in this year and threw out his conviction, ordering that Gardner either be released or retried citing tainted testimony from Zain. > > In Gardner's trial, Zain testified that Gardner could not be excluded as the attacker while his lab work apparently showed Gardner had a different blood type than the attacker. > > Judge Joseph Goodwin called Gardner's case "a complete miscarriage of justice." > > "Gardner has been in legal purgatory: the state courts have deprived him of the relief he seeks, but because they have not officially denied his petition on the merits, he has been unable to turn to the federal courts for relief," Goodwin wrote. He went on to write, "I have absolutely no doubt that Zain's false testimony had a substantial and injurious effect on the jury's verdict, which resulted in a complete miscarriage of justice." > > Gardner said that ridding himself of the charges became his sole purpose. > > "That was my entire purpose to get those charges off of me because those charges don't represent who I am," Gardner says. "You can't fake it for long. If an individual is faking, it can be told. You can see who he is in a matter of time. You can't fake it for 30 years." > > ==**Kanawha County prosecutors opted to retry Gardner, saying that DNA evidence found inside the victim did, in fact, match Gardner and so did the fingerprint.**== > > ==**Prosecutors told the judge that Zakaib did order new DNA testing in 1996 and that it did not clear Gardner.**== > > ==**"As a matter of fact, they determined, statistically, that there is a one in 13,500,000 percent chance that someone else would have had that DNA profile," prosecutor Don Morris said during a hearing earlier this year, before it was announced they were not proceeding with the case.**== > > ==**Just days before the trial was set to start, however, prosecutors dropped the charges, saying that the memories of those who worked the case nearly 30 years ago were so faded and unreliable that they couldn't proceed.**== > > "Everything happens for a reason and in the time it's going to happen," Gardner said. "I might have wanted things to happen in my time but if you're of faith, you believe in God, a higher power which I do, it's going to happen in God's time, not our time, not my time. Twenty-seven years later, I'm thankful. I'm humble, I'm healthy. I'm 50 years old. I'm healthy and home with my family. My sister and loved ones. There's no complaints here,." > > Today, Gardner is hoping to get a job with the Mayor's Office on Returning Citizen Affairs in Washington, DC. > > "I want to be able to try to help individuals that are in the situation that I was in," Gardner said. "I want to be able to go back and be of some assistance to the guys. Let the guys know that you've got help, you've got hope over here." > > He says, with certainty, that there are more Jimmie Gardners. > > "There are so many cases that are still out there and need to have reviews and people need to be aware that it wasn't a single incident. It was widespread," Gardner said. > > He says that every day of every year he was in prison, he knew he was getting ready to go home. Now that he is, he wants you to know this. "I tell people, it's not how you start. It's how you finish." But this is not really a "total exoneration." Not even close. From [City reaches settlement with former pro baseball player whose conviction was overturned](https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Judge-claims-mockery-of-justice-orders-new-trial--man-released-from-jail--373602451.html) > Regardless, and without Zain's testimony, Kanawha County prosecutors said they could convict Gardner again, citing strong DNA evidence and a fingerprint. > > "Statistically it was a one-in-32,500,000 chance that someone else would have had that DNA profile," Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Don Morris said at a hearing in April. Despite claims to the contrary, in 1994 and 1995 Kanawha County followed through with obtaining new DNA samples. **July 17, 1994** — [Prisoners say tests could set them free](https://www.newspapers.com/article/lansing-state-journal-lansing-state-jour/135431316/) — Lansing State Journal  **July 18, 1994** — [Prisoners declare innocence, but can't get DNA proof](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-californian-prisoners-declare-innoce/135568984/) > [!grid|masonry] >  > >  **[April 23, 1995](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tyler-courier-times-dna-tests-ordere/135503095/)** — DNA Tests Ordered In Rape Conviction  > Judge Joanna Tabit ordered a new trial, but just days before the trial, prosecutors said that time had taken its toll on the evidence. > > Kanawha County Prosecutor Chuck Miller said that [tracking down](https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Judge-claims-mockery-of-justice-orders-new-trial--man-released-from-jail--373602451.html) witnesses and officers in the case proved extremely difficult. Also, the victims in the case passed away. The charges were dropped. > Garnder told Judge Tabit in July that he didn't always make the right choices. When talking about the gun charge to which he pleaded guilty, that eventually linked him to the crime in Charleston, he said he is "not the man he used to be." > > Gardner said he was "involved in things that were not good." %%Footer Starts Here%% ---  --- # Keep Digging %%Space%% ## Tags #Stream/BDE ### Footnotes & References Unprocessed 🧩/BDE262.md Archives 💾/Articles/Reuters — Climate change seen fanning conflict and terrorism.md Archives 💾/Articles/Not the Bee — Army sends letter to troops who were discharged for refusing the vax, says they can correct the discharge and come back to the military.md Archives 💾/Articles/CNN — Only 43 of more than 8,000 discharged from US military for refusing Covid vaccine have rejoined.md