Michael Gardner Goes To Trial

In my blog post "The Persecution of Brandon Gotwalt", I mentioned that the biggest proponent in the political machine trying to to make an example out of Brandon Gotwalt was Michael Gardner, a former local official in the Democrat Party and husband of the-then Mayor of Falls Church, and that Mr. Gardner now awaits his own criminal trial for child molestation. Well, supposedly today is the day that trial starts... it'll be interesting to see what comes of it.

Some developments have occurred in this case since last June when Gardner was arrested for having sexually molested three girls in his house during a sleepover for his daughter. In December, Gardner's lawyer filed a motion to dismiss the case which was denied, but that denial was sealed by the court. The Falls Church News-Press, the paper where Gardner had been a columnist and who's publisher, Nicholas Benton, Gardner often referred to as a close friend, sued to unseal the denial motion. What resulted was the release of the names of the victims and the fact that one had been seeing a psychologist prior to the crime in question.

As the motion to dismiss the case was denied, this information being in the wild only serves to intimidate the victim. And think about this: the victim was a childhood friend of Gardner's daughter. Take a moment to think about how slimy a move that was on Gardner's part and the complicit cooperation for which the Falls Church News-Press has engaged.

The results of the DNA tests are also now public, which have a puzzling twist. The tests confirm that the sperm found on the clothes of the girls did belong to Michael Gardner, but that there was also another donor of unknown identity.

While the Commonwealth wants to exclude the evidence of the second donor, it does add a puzzling twist. Did Gardner have an accomplice who has not been charged? Maybe that will come out at trial too. Maybe if Gardner will attempt to cut a deal and give up the accomplice since the evidence against him is very damning.