But Gardner was impressed with her accomplishments and more than a bit smitten. Two years later, in Miami, Gardner was arrested for gun possession and the police ran his fingerprints through the system. Before that she worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia, which includes Atlanta. Three years into his sentence, other agencies started questioning the reliability of Fred Zains DNA evidence. I had fingerprints, photos, stayed 90 minutes to be interrogated, they said nothing matched, and wished me well for the season. It was through this work that he met his wife, Leslie Abrams Gardner, who became the first Black woman appointed as a federal judge in Georgia in 2014 and is sister to voting rights activist. 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Gardner wasn't incarcerated until years later when officers took DNA from him again during questioning, Gardner, is pictured above second from left at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in 2002. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. On May 16, 1987, a man described as around 6 feet tall with light black skin broke into an 82-year-old Charleston womans home. In her most prominent case, she ruled in 2019 that former White House counsel Don McGahn had to testify at a House impeachment hearing. If that happens, Bidens pick would be the third Black justice and the sixth woman in the courts history of more than 230 years. } Her sister, Stacey, could possibly upset the countrys political spectrum if Georgia voters select her as their governor in the upcoming November elections. On Feb. 1, 1990, a jury acquitted Gardner on charges of attacking the second victim, but convicted him of assaulting and robbing the first two women. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court."[8]. 'I left when I was 23 and 50 when I returned, but in her mind I was 13, it was a psychological thing. background-color: #f9d334; Attorney Admissions; Bill of Costs Guide; CJA Attorney Information; CJA eVoucher . Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner; Judge Clay D. Land; Judge Tilman E. (Tripp) Self; Sr. Judge Hugh Lawson; Sr. Judge W. Louis Sands; Sr. Judge C. Ashley Royal; Mag Judge M. Stephen Hyles; Mag Judge Thomas Q. Langstaff; Mag Judge Charles H. Weigle; For Attorneys. | Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. I have a pretty unrelenting view of justice, she said in a 2013 interview with NYU Law Magazine. [4][5] NBC News had previously reported the retirement on January 26. Childs would bring a different set of experiences to the Supreme Court as a non-Ivy League law school graduate -- she graduated from the University of South Carolina -- and a former South Carolina labor official. Gardner, 47, is another judge who would be making an unlikely leap from serving on a federal district court. As a California Supreme Court justice since 2015, she has developed a reputation as a careful, incremental jurist -- a trait that might disappoint some liberal advocates while potentially attracting Republican support. Play it now! margin-bottom:0px; Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ruckman even identified another man out of a police lineup as the man who assaulted her, but Zain said that his DNA evidence excluded that man. Justice Leslie Abrams Gardner, a federal prosecutor turned federal district court judge, has had her name . While working alongside schools and prisons in Georgia, he met his future wife Leslie at a gathering of black female judges. 'I wrote to Obama twice, the third time I wrote I got something back from Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, who explained that they couldn't review the case on as they can't get involved in state criminal matters. Leslie, 43, is the sister of Stacey Abrams, 44, who became the first black female gubernatorial nominee ever in the United States when she won the Democratic primary in Georgia on Tuesday and is hoping to make history in November at the midterm elections. font-weight: bold; } Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes. And hes involved in multiple criminal justice reform efforts, including a seat on the board of the Georgia Innocence Project, which works to free wrongfully convicted prisoners. from Yale Law School. It was Leslie Abrams Gardner who introduced her husband to Chapman University. Neither Abrams nor Fair Fight were a party to the specific case before Abrams Gardner in the Middle District of Georgia in December 2020. Circuit to take the seat held by now-Attorney General Merrick Garland. However her prospects are complicated by being the sister of Democratic voting rights activist and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. | Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images. She would be the oldest new justice since Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed at age 60 in 1993. Court Personnel Leslie Abrams Gardner, U.S. District Judge Staff Information Felicia Rushing, Courtroom Deputy/Scheduling Clerk, felicia_rushing@gamd.uscourts.gov, (229) 431-2510 Chambers of Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner 201 West Broad Avenue Albany, Georgia 31701 Trial Trial: Judge Gardner's Voir Dire Questions - Civil Trials While he was in prison, Gardner started hatching a plan to become a motivational speaker. By the fall, he had transferred dozens of hours of credits hed accumulated over the years and was enrolled at Chapman as a senior on a full-ride Presidential Scholarship. Gardner is the daughter of the Reverend Carolyn and the Reverend Robert Abrams, originally of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In December 2020, right-leaning observers and prominent Republican politicians cried foul after a federal court judge blocked attempts to remove thousands of names from voter rolls in Georgia, ahead of January's two U.S. Senate run-off elections in the state. Some people you think will be uneasy, maybe her parents won't accept me, but they did. The case involving Abrams and Fair Fight was overseen by a different judge in a different court. background-color: grey; Since 2015, Leondra Kruger has served as an associate justice on the California Supreme Court. } width: 250px; } Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner blocked two counties from purging over 4,000 voters from the rolls for Georgia's upcoming runoff elections. Gardner attended the event. That chatter gained volume last year when Biden tapped her to fill now-Attorney General Merrick Garlands seat on the D.C. Georgia federal Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, 47, the sister of two-time Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, 45, are also. While the polls in Georgia officially closed at 7 p.m., the window of opportunity for Stacey. But while the federal judge had vacated his convictions, West Virginia opted to retry Gardner on all charges. Given the revelations about Zains testimony, Gardner first filed for the West Virginia courts to review his conviction in 1993. But that information wasnt shared with Gardners defense team or presented to the jury during his trial. 'The following Friday, I got the call from my lawyer telling me that my conviction had been vacated and Goodwin had given me an automatic release. .infobox p { US District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner of Georgia Gardner, 47, a federal district court judge in Georgia, is also among the many potential Supreme Court nominees. Cochran was in prison for gang-related offenses and was part of the Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi white supremacist group. Many felt it was inappropriate for Gardner to rule on the case, a concern that was 'I've seen 18-year-olds come in and get a hit put on them and get killed. Prior to her confirmation to the court, she was an assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia. Based on his own cross-referencing of the U.S. 'But no one took on the case. One name being discussed nationally is the sister of Georgia politician Stacey Abrams. Three years later, Gardner learned that all of Zain's cases involving DNA were being reviewed after it was discovered that he had lied in hundreds of murder and rape cases and locked up innocent men by falsifying evidence and tampering with forensic work. The defendants wrote: In addition, any relief rendered in the instant case as it relates to the NCOAR [National Change of Address Registry] would likely be cited as persuasive authority in the Fair Fight Litigation. District Judge Wilhelmina 'Mimi' Wright, Judge on Minnesota's. Leslie Abrams Gardner (ne Leslie Joyce Abrams; born December 6, 1974) is a U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Growing up in Tampa Bay, Florida, Gardner was a natural at sport, from football to basketball, but it was baseball that was destined to be his future - until he was wrongly convicted, In May 1987, a mother and her daughter were robbed, beaten, and the latter raped at their home in Charleston. She would stand out as the first justice nominated in three decades with experience as a state supreme court justice. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president certainly stands by his campaign commitment. Brooke lives in the Inland Empire with her husband and their much-loved pets. Get to know the top contenders for Biden's pick to the nations highest court. A century and a decade. Justice Leslie Abrams Gardner has served as a federal district court judge in Georgia since 2014. Leslie, 43, is the sister of Stacey Abrams, 44, who became the first black female gubernatorial nominee ever in the United States when she won the Democratic primary in Georgia on Tuesday and. font-weight: bold; State legislature | The judge said I had been held in legal purgatory for 23 years in state court and it was a complete miscarriage of justice, Gardner recalled. } He was in solitary confinement, meaning he spent 23 hours in his cell. 'The state still tried to get me to plead guilty, I said no way, I'd rather go back to prison, but I knew it was over, even though it took five months. But hes been impressed with the concrete steps the university is taking to improve its diversity and said he wants to support those efforts. Instead of getting offended, Gardner said Leslie Abrams told him, Wow, you could actually be an attorney. She hesitated to tell him her job, he said, fearing his experience with the justice system would put him off. The two met at an event for the Georgias Black Women Lawyers Association. Gardner said it was likely 'dangerous' for Cochran to be helping him due to his connection to the white supremacist group, but they had 'respect for each other'. For this reason, Judge Gardners impartiality might reasonably be questioned were this case to proceed before her. She served as an associate at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP, from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2007 to 2010. [16], The United States Senate confirmed Abrams on November 18, 2014, on a vote of 100-0.[3]. Another opinion let CNN and other media organizations use a state free speech law to block lawsuits alleging workplace bias or retaliation. But in December she was nominated by Biden for the D.C. Read More: A Supreme Court Path for Potential Black Female Nominee. Kruger graduated from Harvard and received her J.D. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion. He was 49 years old when he returned home and started getting to know his daughter, who was then 31 years old. Circuit. He vowed to God that if he ever got out, hed speak for free for one year. 'In the beginning she wouldn't give me a key and took the door off my room, saying: 'I don't want you bringing girls into the house'. At 23 years old, he was sentenced to up to 110 years in prison. A federal district court judge in Georgia, Leslie Abrams Gardner was appointed to the bench by Obama in 2014. Used with permission. The conversation flowered into a romantic relationship, and the two are engaged to be married later this year. Two months later, another woman was sexually assaulted. Abrams Gardner added that "an order detailing the court's reasoning" was forthcoming. Ifill, 59, would be a bold choice and send a strong statement about Bidens prioritization of civil rights. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Another name that stands out is Ketanji Brown Jackson, 49, a judge in Washington who was . Julianna Michelle Childs has spent the past decade as a district court judge in South Carolina who was appointed by President Barack Obama. color: white; Shes written for dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, with projects that have taken her from a zero gravity flight over Queens to a fishing village in Ghana. The Muscogee County Board of Elections determined that Russell's challenge was probably valid, and contacted those 4,033 "targeted voters" to inform them they could only cast provisional ballots, and would have to provide proof of residency. For Stacey Abrams sister to refuse to recuse and issue this decision despite her indisputable bias undermines the integrity of the entire judicial system." .widget-row.value-only { Abrams Gardner's reasoning can be examined in the ruling itself. I went with a friend who asked me to mingle, Gardner told the Daily Mail. The youngest is Leslie Abrams Gardner, 45, the sister of Biden vice presidential contender Stacey Abrams. Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, serves on Georgia's district court and is the sister of the voting-rights advocate Stacey Abrams. Counties | } Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Photographer: Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images, Photographer: S. Todd Rogers/The Recorder/AP Photo, Photographer: Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images, President has pledged to nominate first Black female justice, Progressives want more professional diversity on court. .widget-row.Republican { She received her bachelors degree from the University of South Florida and received both a business and law degree from the University of South Carolina. U.S. District Court Judge Leslie A. Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams. Theres a moment Jimmie Gardner has rehearsed in his head for more than three decades. Jimmie Gardner was wrongfully convicted of assault and rape nearly three decades after an investigator produced falsified evidence by the way of fingerprint and DNA sample results that were not Jimmie's. The former minor league baseball player spent the better part of 23 years fruitlessly . School districts | I encourage them to stay on the good path, don't succumb to the environment they're in. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. You have to be willing to fight and lose the battle sometimes in order to win the war.. Kruger has written a decision that overturned a precedent and required a warrant for vehicle searches. It's traumatic for the parents. As of Dec. 31, no such order was available on the case's online docket. Justice Leslie Abrams Gardner, a federal prosecutor turned federal district court judge, has had her name appear on lists in such publications as the Washington Post, Politico, and Bloomberg of . United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, "Leslie Abrams Gardner, United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia: Profile and Biography", "Stacey Abrams wins Democratic primary in Georgia. 'Then fast forward two years, I'm in Florida and Charleston Police say they want to question me about the crimes in 1987. background-color: red; I still haven't found a case like mine to this day,' he said. Learn more about a Bloomberg Law subscription. Ifill, 59, came back to helm the LDF in 2013 after two decades teaching at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. It was through this work that he met his wife, Leslie Abrams Gardner, who became the first Black woman appointed as a federal judge in Georgia in 2014 and is sister to voting rights activist Stacey Abrams. font-weight: bold; He added: 'I learned the law through Marcus Cochran, he taught me how to review cases, he was a member of the brotherhood. Gardner was 20 years old, pitching for the Charleston Wheelers in West Virginia in 1987. vertical-align: top; AP Photo/Charles Dharapak. Even though he knew of this discovery, Gardner would spend another 23 years in prison. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she was an Assistant United States Attorney.[1]. Jimmy is pictured above with his Great Aunt Alberta Le Mar, who helped raise him, but sadly passed away while he was still in prison. 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From October 2016 to October 2017, with support from family and advocates, he volunteered to share his story and to advocate for social justice reform everywhere he could. .widget-row { The Chicago Cubs drafted Gardner straight out of high school in 1984 for their affiliated minor league teams. The judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner the sister of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a prominent ally of President-elect Joe Biden who has led voter registration efforts across the . A feud could start out of nowhere. In November the organization announced that Ifill plans to step down in the spring after more than nine years in charge. The case in question was Majority Forward and Gamaliel Warren Turner vs. Ben Hill County Board of Elections et al. Childs, 55, may have been considered a long shot given that no federal district judge has been directly elevated to the Supreme Court since 1923. Leslie Abrams Gardner, U.S. District Court, Middle District, Georgia President Barack Obama nominated Gardner in 2014, and she was approved unanimously by the Senate. Abrams interest could therefore be substantially affected by the outcome of this proceeding. The legal wranglings were complex but the gist was simple: While he didnt actually look like the suspect, he fit the vague description of a tall black male. She would bring another dimension of diversity to the Supreme Court as a former public defender.
float:right; After he was released, Gardner began working with Georgia schools, prisons and organizations as a motivational speaker and criminal-justice advocate. Thats how long some people thought it would take before a black woman even came close to the governorship in notoriously conservative Georgia. Leslie Abrams Gardner is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. [1] Biography [ edit] He is also involved in the Innocence Project, an organization that takes on cases in hopes of freeing people who have been wrongly convicted. display: block; Gardner had put the incident behind him and was back in Florida two years later, attending college for business management, when police arrested him. Elections in 2023 | Zains testimony was used to convict an estimated 136 people in the 1970s and 80s, Gardner later learned. During the investigation, 23-year-old Jimmie Gardner was in Kanawha City playing for a minor league baseball team after being drafted by the Chicago Cubs. Jimmie and Leslie Gardner met and were married after his release. Three years later, in 1993, West Virginias Supreme Court of Appeals received complaints about Zain falsifying evidence. Ifill has also been a frequent presence on cable news and in op-ed pages, particularly on issues surrounding voting rights and the crimin system. 'I'll keep fighting for injustice, wrongful convictions and for people who haven't got voices,' Gardner said. background-color: grey; I was going to give it my best shot, who knows if I was going to be good enough,' he says. 2022 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Her age -- she is the youngest of Bidens potential picks -- means she could easily serve for three decades or more on the high court. She would be the youngest Supreme Court nominee since 43-year-old Thomas was selected in 1991. In December 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner ruled on a case to which her sister, Stacey Abrams, was a party. She was also a law firm partner, focusing on labor and employment law. State and local courts | Black Women Had Some Major Firsts In Last Week's Midterm Elections, Black Musicians Are Not A Monolith: An Interview with Bartees Strange, Stacey Abrams: Here's How Voter Suppression Can Occur. U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner attracted considerable criticism when she declined to recuse herself from a challenge over voter eligibility. color: white; Laura Barrn-Lpez contributed to this report. 'We got together, it clicked, we know that God brought us together for a purpose. According to Abrams Gardner's Dec. 28 ruling, the basic facts of the case were as follows. There are comparatively few Black women in the highest reaches of the federal judiciary, though Biden has been active in bolstering those numbers as part of a broader emphasis on diversifying the courts, both in terms of demographics and professional background. } display: inline-block; display: inline-block; Possible Joe Biden nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, United States District Court for the District of Maryland, United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia website, https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Leslie_Abrams_Gardner&oldid=8725719, Pages using DynamicPageList dplreplace parser function, Pages using DynamicPageList parser function, Federal judge, Middle District of Georgia, Conflicts in school board elections, 2021-2022, Special Congressional elections (2023-2024), 2022 Congressional Competitiveness Report, State Executive Competitiveness Report, 2022, State Legislative Competitiveness Report, 2022, Partisanship in 2022 United States local elections. font-size: .9em; Leslie Abrams Gardner The sister of voting rights activist and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner is 47 years old and currently presides over a federal court in Atlanta, having been nominated by President Obama in 2014. | On the night of Stacey Abram's victory against Stacey Evans, Gardner and the candidate's younger sister Leslie were right by her side in Atlanta, While working alongside schools and prisons in Georgia, Gardner (right) met his future wife Leslie (left) at a gathering of black female judges, Gardner and Leslie, pictured with a friend at the 2018 Innocence Project Gala in May, plan to get married later this year. Gardner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997 from Brown University. 'I was stuck for 23 years in state court. Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, has been widely considered the early frontrunner for any Supreme Court vacancy under Biden. Gardner plans to use his communications degree to continue sharing his story, shedding light on other wrongful conviction cases and inspiring people to keep fighting for justice. His team insists the state of West Virginia knew as early as 1985 that Zain wasnt qualified as a DNA or bodily fluids expert but still let the man testify in his 1990 trial, which hinged on exactly such evidence. And the 54-year-old is on track to earn his bachelors degree with honors this fall from Chapman University. As president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund -- a position once held by the late Justice Thurgood Marshall before he was nominated -- Ifill has been at the center of policy debates and pressure campaigns involving voting rights, police brutality and job discrimination. 'I watched hundreds of guys dying from eating the bad food, dirty water, disease, succumbing to the environment - killing themselves, or getting killed. None of the victims identified him as their attacker. Kruger clerked for the late Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. background-color: #f9f9f9; 'I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be with such an awesome individual. Now the 51-year-old has found love with Georgia District Judge Leslie Abrams (left), Leslie, 43, is the sister of Stacey Abrams (pictured), who became the first black female governor nominee ever in the United States when she won the Democratic primary in Georgia on Tuesday. She graduated from Brown University before attending Yale Law School. [9][10] Click here to read more about the vacancy and nomination process. 'Baseball was going to be my future, God willing. Police believed the two crimes were linked, so they questioned more than 100 tall black men in the area. Turner was one of those targeted voters. Biden could also heed calls from his liberal base to add professional diversity to a court without any former public defenders or civil rights lawyers. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas responded by tweeting: "This is absurd. But West Virginias chief blood analyst at the time, Fred Zain, said evidence from both sexual assaults suggested Gardner couldnt be ruled out as a suspect. United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, .infobox { border: 1px solid #a2a9b1 !important; Apply today! Since that time period covered the Jan. 5, 2021, elections, the targeted voters were therefore allowed to vote as normal in the U.S. Senate run-off elections. She has also been involved in recent efforts to push Facebook Inc. and other social media platforms to do more to combat racism and voter suppression on their sites. I dont want to discount anyone elses experience, he said. The defendants in the case filed a motion to request that Abrams Gardner recuse herself. Justice Stephen Breyers retirement plans have quickly created an expectation that President Biden will nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, as he promised during his campaign. font-size: .9em; Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Leslie Abrams Gardner are indeed sisters. Between seasons, he enrolled in his first college classes, imagining the day when hed walk across a stage, flip his tassel, and take home a degree in business management. In 1993 the West Virginia Supreme Court found that Zain had a long history of falsifying evidence in criminal prosecutions. An investigation concluded that Zains pattern and practice of misconduct completely undermined the validity and reliability of any forensic work he performed or reported and that as a matter of law, any testimonial or documentary evidence offered by Zain at any time in any criminal prosecution should be deemed invalid, unreliable, and inadmissible . 'If you've been wrongfully convicted, then keep on fighting, don't give up, and if you're in rightfully, and been given too much time - which the majority have - then also don't give up. Millions of men out of work and lonely. During that time, Gardner had been studying the law. Its funny because I was explaining to her how the law worked in my case, Gardner says.