Jimmie C. Gardner, exonerated after 27 years in prison, forms foundation for social justice

D. Kevin McNeir, The Afro

In 1990, Jimmie C. Gardner, now 59, was a member of the Chicago Cubs Minor League team in Charleston, W.Va., pursuing his lifelong dream of playing professional baseball. But after two elderly White women falsely accused him of sexual assault and robbery, he was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 110 years in prison.  

After serving 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Gardner’s conviction was overturned – one of more than 140 cases in which the state relied on falsified forensic evidence testimony by the chief serologist to secure a conviction. 

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, while overturning the conviction, said Gardner’s conviction was “not only a total miscarriage of justice,” but that he “had been held in legal purgatory for 27 years.”

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Gardner said his faith in God and the support of his family and friends have made him stronger, convincing him that he needed to do something to help others who have undergone or continue to face similar experiences of injustice. 

“I was given a second chance twice and I’m grateful, but I never allowed it to make me bitter,” he said.

The original article explains how Gardner has formed Gardner House to support others who were wrongfully convicted.

While the US is slow to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and their communities and families pay the price, even exoneration can be traumatic.

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