Gardner hearing postponed until Aug; new details of life emerge

An Aug. 4 preliminary hearing date was set today for a registered sex offender charged with the rape-murder of a Poway High School senior who vanished while running behind Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

John Albert Gardner III (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

John Albert Gardner III, 30, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a rape or attempted rape.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis will decide after the August hearing whether Gardner will face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted of killing Chelsea King.

Gardner was arrested Feb. 28 in connection with the 17-year-old cross-country runner’s disappearance three days earlier. Her body was discovered March 2 in a shallow grave in a tributary of nearby Lake Hodges.

According to Escondido police, Gardner is also the focus of an investigation into the disappearance and murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who went missing 13 months ago. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a remote area of Pala on Saturday.

Her father, Moe, attended today’s hearing for Gardner and said he and Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, are the only people who represent the true feelings of their family.

The father was reacting to statements by others, including private investigator Bill Garcia, who said he was told that a tip that led investigators to Amber’s body did not come from Gardner, who has not been charged in connection with the girl’s death.

“The only spokesperson for Amber and Amber’s family will be me or Carrie,” he said.

Moe Dubois asked the media to use its resources toward finding missing children like Michael Guidry, who has been missing in San Diego since Thanksgiving.

“There are many other children in the area who do need your help and need your support,” Dubois said. “You have the power to bring these children home. Please use that power and attention on those children at this time.”

The father refused to answer questions on whether he thought Gardner was linked to his daughter’s disappearance and murder.

At today’s hearing, Judge David Danielsen signed a protective order barring attorneys and police involved with Gardner’s case from releasing any information to the news media.

Gardner is also charged with sexually assaulting a Colorado woman who was running alone in Rancho Bernardo Community Park last Dec. 27.

According to public records, Gardner was convicted of assaulting and molesting a 13-year-old neighbor in 2000. The victim said he repeatedly punched her in the face and fondled her at his mother’s townhouse, which is about a mile from Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The girl said she went to the residence after Gardner invited her in to watch a movie.

Gardner was sentenced to six years in prison and served five before he was released in September 2005. He was on probation until 2008. He registered as a sex offender using his grandmother’s Lake Elsinore address but reportedly had been staying with his mother lately.

A probation report prepared for that sentencing was released today, after Danielsen granted a request by the San Diego Union-Tribune and KGTV that it be unsealed and made available for public viewing.

According to the probation report, Gardner told officials he attended Rim of the World High School in San Bernardino County and maintained a 3.2 grade point average. Gardner told officials he was born in Culver City and moved to Redlands when he was 7 and then later to Running Springs, where he eventually attended Rim of the World. He worked as a lifeguard at a resort in the San Bernardino Mountains, he told officials, and as a ride operator at Santa’s Village for four months until the amusement park went out of business.

Gardner said he lived in San Bernardino County until he was 18 and, after a brief time in Los Angeles, then moved to San Diego in 1998.

Gardner described his relationship with his mother as strained, because they live in small quarters, and that each would be better if they had their own place. He told officials that he believed his uncle, step-father and natural father are all alcoholics. At the time the report was written, Gardner described himself as being engaged, but did not identify his fiancé. He said he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but stopped taking medications for the illness when he was a teenager. A report filed as part of the record argues that Gardner does not suffer from any symptoms from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

At one point, Gardner said, he considered a career as a math teacher, police officer or going into the military. He told officials that he knows that cannot happen now.

In his psychological evaluation of the defendant, Dr. Matthew Carroll said Gardner’s “complete denial” of any culpability for harming his neighbor made it unlikely that he would be amenable to treatment.

“The defendant does not suffer from a psychotic disorder,” Carroll wrote. “He is simply a bad guy who is inordinately interested in young girls. However, his predilection toward younger girls is a problem. He manifests significant predatory traits and is a danger to the community.”

Tags: Amber Dubois, Chelsea King, district attorney bonnie dumanis, Dr. Matthew Carroll, Escondido police, John Albert Gardner III, Judge David Danielsen, Lake Elsinore, Lake Hodges, lakeland village, Michael Guidry, Poway High School, Rancho Bernardo Community Park, SWRNN

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Crime, Local News, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.