Science and Justice Series

Jimmie C. Gardner was drafted by the Chicago Cubs just after high school graduation and played with them in the minor leagues for 4 seasons. While playing in the minor leagues, he enrolled in college to study business management in Tampa, Florida. 

In 1989, while still working towards his business degree, Jimmie was arrested and charged with two separate counts of robbery and sexual assault for crimes that occurred in Charleston, West Virginia in 1987 when Jimmie was playing for Charleston Wheelers baseball team. He always maintained his innocence, but he was found guilty in February 1990, and was sentenced to 110 years in prison. 

At Gardner’s trial, Fred Zain, the Chief Serologist for the West Virginia Division of Public Safety was the expert witness, and he presented false testimony which contributed to Gardner’s guilty verdict. Jimmie Gardner’s case is one of over 140 cases from the late 1970’s through the 1980’s, in which the state of West Virginia relied on falsified forensic evidence testimony by Zain in order to convict. The state of was aware of Zain’s lack of qualifications as a serologist and DNA expert as early as 1985, and yet he was allowed to testify in Jimmie’s 1990 trial.

It is, therefore, notable that in April, 2021 Governor Jim Justice signed House Bill 2888 which will make WV the 7^thstate in the country to pass a law that gives imprisoned people an avenue to get back into state court after being convicted on discredited forensic evidence.

It was not until April 1st, 2016, nearly 3 decades after Zain was exposed—that Jimmie Gardner was finally released. Upon being released Gardner reunited with his family, including his then 31-year-old daughter, from whom he had become estranged, due to their separation during his incarceration.

Since his release, Jimmie Gardner has become an advocate for other wrongfully imprisoned men and women who have felt the sting of this country’s systemic and racial injustices throughout the criminal justice system. He also advocates for prison reform and inmate rights all over the country. He is an active motivational speaker, engaged by high schools, colleges and universities, including the Georgetown School of Law, and now the University of California, Irvine, churches, community, as well as civic organizations throughout the country. He has also spoken in prisons such as Lee County State Prison and Autry State Prison in Georgia, in his effort to expose ongoing injustices and bring about prison reform for inmates.

And he is expected to graduate this Fall with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from our neighbor Chapman University.

Thanks for the cooperation of the Masters of Advanced Study (MAS) in Criminology, Law and Society program and to Manager of Instruction Design Heidi Beezley Thobodeau for video production.

In April, 2021, Jimmie recorded this video introducing himself to the master’s and undergraduate students in the Errors of Justice courses in the Department of Criminology, Law & Society at the University of California, Irvine.

View the Q&A with Jimmie Gardner, recorded April 27, 2021, here.

Jimmie Gardner Speaks.

National Registry of Exonerations.

Georgia Innocence Project.