A Kanawha County judge agreed Wednesday to push back the trial of Jimmie Gardner, whose 25-year-old conviction on sexual assault and robbery charges was overturned last month.
Gardner, 49, will now stand trial on July 11, said Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit. Robert Dunlap, who represents Gardner, asked the judge for more time to prepare his client's defense.
Tabit had originally set a May 16 trial for Gardner, after U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin last month overturned his conviction and ordered he be retried or released from prison within 60 days.
Kanawha prosecutors announced at a hearing earlier this month that they would retry Gardner on charges involving the 1987 sexual assault of a woman and beating of her elderly mother inside their Kanawha City home. Gardner was sentenced to spend 33 to 110 years in prison.
Tabit released Gardner, a Tampa native, on bond to await trial at his mother's home in Albany, Georgia. He is a former pitcher for the Charleston Wheelers, then the city's minor league baseball team. Gardner appeared at Wednesday's hearing via video.
"This was a difficult decision for my client, as he does want to move forward," Dunlap said. He said, though, that he needs more time to prepare.
Even if Gardner isn't tried within 60 days, Dunlap said that Tabit would still be abiding by the federal order because Gardner has been released from jail.
"I do not want to continue this for an extended period of time," Tabit said as she granted the continuance.
Prosecutors said they could be ready by the original May trial date.
First Assistant Kanawha Prosecutor Don Morris said during a hearing earlier this month he is confident a jury will again convict Gardner - based on fingerprint evidence and more recent DNA tests.
Goodwin ruled that testimony from since-discredited State Police serologist Fred Zain, who served as a critical witness for prosecutors in Gardner's 1990 trial, was enough to overturn Gardner's conviction.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1702 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.