Chelsea King, 17, Missing 2-25-2010 Rancho Bernadino CA (BODY FOUND)

[klaasend]

http://www.10news.com/news/22783378/detail.html

John Gardner To Appear In Court Today
Status Conference Scheduled For John Gardner

POSTED: 4:02 am PST March 9, 2010
SAN DIEGO -- A registered sex offender who has been charged in the killing of 17-year-old Chelsea King and is the focus of an investigation into the death of 14-year-old Amber Dubois is scheduled to be in court Tuesday for a status conference.

John Albert Gardner III, 30, is charged with murder in the death of King, who disappeared Feb. 25 while running behind Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Her body was found five days later in a shallow grave near a tributary of Lake Hodges.

The charges against Gardner include a sentencing-enhancing allegation of murder during the commission of a rape or attempted rape. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

A decision on what penalty Gardner will face will be determined after a preliminary hearing, which is set for March 18 and is intended to help a judge determine if the evidence warrants ordering him to stand trial.

Gardner is also charged with sexually assaulting a woman in the same park Dec. 27.

Additionally, authorities in Escondido have said Gardner is the focus of their investigation into the disappearance and murder of Dubois, whose skeletal remains were found Saturday in Pala. Gardner has not been charged in Dubois' death.

The defendant was in court Monday after attorneys from the San Diego Union-Tribune asked a judge to unseal a probation report prepared for the defendant's 2000 sentencing for molesting a 13-year-old girl in the same area.

Judge David Danielsen ordered the report unsealed but suspended the order until Wednesday morning in case Gardner's attorneys wanted to appeal to his ruling.

Danielsen said he had to weigh the public's right to access court records versus the "very significant" right of the defendant to get a fair trial.

The judge said most, if not all, of the facts contained in the 2000 probation report have been disclosed already.

The report would normally be sealed, but if a person is charged with a subsequent crime, the law allows for it to be unsealed, the judge said.

In the 2000 case, the 13-year-old victim said Gardner repeatedly punched her in the face and fondled her at his mother's townhouse, which is about a mile from Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

Gardner subsequently pleaded guilty, was sentenced to six years in prison and was released in 2005. He was on probation until 2008 and registered as a sex offender using his grandmother's Lake Elsinore address, but he reportedly had been staying with his mother lately.

Defense attorney Mel Epley said his client was mentioned by authorities in connection with the the Dubois investigation and urged Danielsen to order law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, defense attorneys and court officials not to make any comment on the pending case. Danielsen said it wouldn't be appropriate for officials to comment.

[klaasend]

The hearing is going to be in about an hour at 9:30am:

http://www.10news.com/index.html

I probably won't be able to watch/listen

[no rose colored glasses]

The hearing is going to be in about an hour at 9:30am:

http://www.10news.com/index.html

I probably won't be able to watch/listen

Thank-you

[Northern Rose]

Preliminary hearing set for August 4th for John Gardner.

[no rose colored glasses]

Preliminary hearing set for August 4th for John Gardner.

Thanks, was it not set for the end of March? Figures if it was changed.

[Northern Rose]

twitter:

knx1070: BREAKING: Gag order placed on all legal proceedings surrounding Chelsea King murder suspect John Gardner
less than a minute ago from web

[no rose colored glasses]

twitter:

knx1070: BREAKING: Gag order placed on all legal proceedings surrounding Chelsea King murder suspect John Gardner
less than a minute ago from web

Thanks, that is a good thing.

[Northern Rose]

His lawyers wanted the prelimary hearing in Sept.  Prosection said they wanted July, Judge set it for Aug 4. 

His lawyers requested a protective order.  Judge signed it to seal the case so the public does not hear details.

[no rose colored glasses]

Thanks, even with the gag order things will slip through the cracks.

[Northern Rose]

Hearing pushed back in California teen murder case

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego judge has postponed the preliminary hearing for a sex offender accused of murdering 17-year-old Chelsea King.

Superior Court Judge David J. Danielsen on Tuesday rescheduled the hearing from March 18 to Aug. 4.

The defense wanted a September date, and the prosecution sought a hearing by July.

Defendant John Albert Gardner III spoke only to acknowledge that he waived his right to speedy proceedings.

King vanished Feb. 25 and her presumed body was found March 2 in a grave in a park north of San Diego. The case against Gardner also alleges he raped or tried to rape King.

Gardner is also under investigation in the death of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, whose remains were found Saturday 10 miles from the site where King disappeared.



http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view/20100309hearing_pushed_back_in_california_teen_murder_case/srvc=home&position=recent

[cw618]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/09/new-hearing-date-set-and-gag-order-issued-chelsea-/

New hearing date, gag order set in Chelsea King case
By Dana Littlefield, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 11:12 a.m.

A preliminary hearing for John Albert Gardner III, a convicted sex offender accused of raping and killing Poway teenager Chelsea King, has been scheduled for Aug. 4.

Gardner, 30, of Lake Elsinore, appeared in court Tuesday morning for a brief status conference. He faces a murder charge in connection with the 17-year-old, who disappeared from a Rancho Bernardo park on Feb. 25.

Because of a special-circumstance allegation of murder during a rape, Gardner is eligible for the death penalty.

San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen also issued a gag order in the case. It prohibits law enforcement and attorneys from releasing any information or opinion concerning the trial, or evidence that may be offered or on ongoing investigations related to Gardner.

The judge scheduled the preliminary hearing for August after hearing from attorneys who said they needed several months to prepare for the case. A preliminary hearing is typically the prosecution’s first opportunity to present evidence in a case in support of the charges.

A judge determines whether there is enough evidence to order a trial.

Defense attorneys Mel Epley and Michael Popkins said Tuesday that they had not yet received police reports and other relevant documents in the case. Epley had asked for the hearing to be set in September.

Prosecutor Kristen Spieler had asked for June.

“Four months is more than adequate to prepare for preliminary hearing,” Spieler said.

Danielsen, who works in a department that doesn’t handle trials, said he would wait until after the hearing to permanently assign the case to a judge.

Prosecutors have not yet determined whether they will seek the death penalty or life in prison without parole if Gardner is convicted.

He is also charged with assault with intent to commit rape in connection with a Dec. 27 attack on a female jogger in Rancho Bernardo.

Escondido police have said Gardner remains the focus of the investigation into the death of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, whose remains were found Saturday in a hillside in Pala after a 13-month search.

Outside the courthouse, Amber’s father Moe Dubois declined to comment about the ongoing investigation. He thanked the public and the local media for focusing their attention on Amber and Chelsea, but urged them to focus some of the spotlight on others who remain missing.

“There are many other children in the area who do need your help and do need your support,” Dubois said.

Dana Littlefield: (619) 542-4590; dana.littlefield@uniontrib.com
---------------------------------------------

http://www.signonsandiego.com/two-stolen-lives/

Stolen Lives: Amber Dubois and Chelsea King

[Northern Rose]

New details emerge on accused killer Gardner
He wanted to be a math teacher, worked at Santa's Village and says his father abused him

New details about accused murderer John Albert Gardner III and his 2000 molestation of a young girl emerged with the court-ordered release of his probation report Tuesday, along with insights into his state of mind and upbringing.

It describes Gardner as a high school graduate with a 3.2 GPA and a relatively high IQ who didn’t get along well with his parents and claimed to have taken 18 different medications. It says he worked a variety of jobs, including as a seasonal lifeguard and ride operator at a now-defunct amusement park called Santa’s Village.

He aspired to be a math teacher or join law enforcement or the military, but realized before he was sentenced in his 2000 molestation that those dreams were gone.

The report was released in response to a petition from The San Diego Union-Tribune and its news partner, KGTV Channel 10.

Gardner, who appeared in court Tuesday for a status conference, is accused of raping and killing Poway teenager Chelsea King, who went missing on a run on Feb. 25 in Rancho Bernardo. He is also the focus of an investigation in the death of Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, whose body was recovered Saturday after she went missing 13 months ago.

The report says he was born and lived in Culver City until age 2, and lived in Palmdale until age 6. His parents divorced when he was 5, and then he moved to the Los Angeles area, Redlands and Running Springs in the San Bernardino Mountains. He lived there until he was 18, when his mother moved to San Diego. He said he moved there, too, in 1998 and lived with his mother.

Gardner was 21 when he was sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting a 13-year-old in his mother’s home in 2000.

Gardner brought the girl to his home before school on March 16, 2000, and began giving her a massage as they were watching a movie. His advances became more physical and occurred on the floor, on the couch, upstairs in his bedroom and again on the couch, where he hit her repeatedly in the head.

At one point, the report says, he asked if he was scaring her. Before she hurried to a neighbor’s house wearing one shoe and with her pants unzipped, the report says, “the defendant hugged her when it was over and said that he was sorry; that he didn’t know what he had been thinking.”

Gardner’s probation report notes that Gardner’s uncle, stepfather and father “are all alcoholics,” and that his father spanked him with a belt and Gardner “felt that he went over the line to abusiveness.”


Gardner also said his relationship with his mother “is somewhat strained at times because they share a small apartment and get on each other’s nerves.”

Gardner began working at age 15 or 16 with his stepfather in construction on an off-and-on basis. After that, he worked as a lifeguard for one season at a the Agua Fria resort in the San Bernardino Mountains and as a rider operator for about four months at Santa’s Village until that amusement park went out of business and closed down.

He later worked at an In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles for three to six months and after moving to San Diego in 1998, worked for about a year and a half at Big 5 Sporting Goods, as previously reported.

As a child, it says, Gardner suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and took at various times Ritalin, Sylert, Zoloft, Paxil, Tegretol, Mellaril, Impripramine and Wellbutrin. It says he stopped taking medication for the condition as a teenager.

In the report, Dr. Matthew Carroll, a psychiatrist evaluating Gardner for the county, casts doubt on Gardner’s claim he took so many medications.

“If this were true, then the person would be severely mentally ill (which the defendant is not) or, there is a serious behavior problem,” the report says.

Carroll is said in the probation report to have considered a diagnosis of pedophilia but found Gardner has not been interested in pre-pubescent children.

Because Gardner denied ever having sexually touched any underage girls, Carroll determined that Gardner would not likely be receptive to treatment, the document says.

“The fact that the defendant takes no responsibility whatsoever for his actions makes him an extremely poor candidate for any sexual offender treatment,” Carroll wrote. “There are sex offender treatment programs available in the community, however, the success rate for these tends to be low.”

The report also says Gardner was engaged at the time and notes that Dr. Carroll was disturbed by Gardner’s comments that she had become pregnant at some point in the recent past and got an abortion “because she was afraid she could not raise a child by herself.”

Carroll said that statement seemed very odd and found “pervasive oddness” in the case.

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

Carroll was also concerned about the incident that led to Gardner’s first criminal conviction — trespassing at the Rim of the World High School where he was a student. “He would like to know why the defendant would be hanging around a high school. He finds this behavior disturbing.”

The Union-Tribune petitioned a judge to unseal the 2000 probation report. A hearing was held Monday afternoon and the petition was granted.

Gardner’s defense lawyers in the Chelsea King case objected to the release of the report, saying it could taint the jury pool and prevent their client from receiving a fair trial in San Diego County.

Citing case law, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen said such documents, which are sealed 60 days after a defendant is sentenced on the original case, can be made public again after the defendant has been rearrested.

Danielsen ordered the report to be released, but gave defense lawyers until Wednesday morning to decide if they would file a writ with the 4th District Court of Appeal in an effort to keep the contents of the document secret. Gardner's deputy public defender, Mel Epley, said in court Tuesday that they would not file the appeal.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/09/new-details-emerge-accused-killer-gardner/

[Northern Rose]

Probation report Part 1

[Northern Rose]

Probation report part 2

[Northern Rose]

Probation report part 3

[Northern Rose]

Probation report link
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/breaking/GardnerProbationReport.pdf

[no rose colored glasses]

Northern thank-you for that probation report 

[Tracygirl]

The statement about his girlfriend getting an abortion because she didn't feel she could raise a child by herself was what made the doctor say he had pervasive oddness?
Maybe it is just me, but there is a lot about this man that makes him odd to me, that statement does not make my hairs stand on end. What am I not getting? 

[no rose colored glasses]

The statement about his girlfriend getting an abortion because she didn't feel she could raise a child by herself was what made the doctor say he had pervasive oddness?
Maybe it is just me, but there is a lot about this man that makes him odd to me, that statement does not make my hairs stand on end. What am I not getting? 

I'm with you, I couldn't figure out why that was so odd 

[Gypsy DD]

I think he thought it was odd because once again JAG was distancing himself from his own behavior...he didn't say he was the father or that he would be around to help, just she couldn't take care of a baby by herself...and yet if I read that right the girl he was engaged to was pregnant again.  JAG seems like he was in denial about all of his behavior..