Mitchell is 35 years old from Brandon, FL. Mitchell has a good heart and loves his country - the USA. He attended his first Trump rally on January 6th, 2021. Mitchell now is incarcerated in Northern Neck Regional Jail in Virginia awaiting sentencing of up to 46-57 months.
Before being jailed Mitchell supported his two children financially, Adeline and Miles. He also paid for in home care for his Grandparents who are quickly approaching their final days. Sadly he has lost his job and can no longer afford his lawyer or support his family financially.
Mitchell used his entire life savings of $45,000 to pay legal bills and recently received another bill from his attorney recently for $29,000 to continue to defend him.
Please help Mitchell raise enough money to continue to pay his lawyer, support his kids and grandparents - and get his life back together. Anything you give will be used wisely. MItchell really needs your help. Thank you!
Update: Jan 8- Joan Gardner (Mitchell's grandmother) passed away after a long battle with cancer. Phillip Gardner (his Grandfather) is now living in nursing home and due to dementia is unaware his wife has passed.
"My grandma was more like a mom to me and losing her while in jail for Jan 6 broke my heart and infuriates me. I should have been there at her side. I should have been there at her funeral. Throughout my life she has been the best example of a loving Christian woman that I've known. She was the best role model God put in my life. There is no punishment more severe than losing her and I will never forgive myself for not being there for her when she died.
Update Jan 15- Mitchell was forced to fire his original attorney David Benowitz and hire Farheena Sidiqui due to poor performance by Benowitz. Price-Benowitz charged $45,000 from Mitchell upfront to represent him.
Over the course of a year Benowitz did very little work and even advised Gardner to take his case to trial without having looked at the evidence in his discovery. There is a lot of talk about the government withholding 41,000 hours of footage and Mitchell's lawyer didn't even take time to watch the 2 hours the government gave him in the beginning.
Hiring Farheena Sidiqui for his sentencing cost Mitchell an additional $8,000. He is very grateful for the hard work she put in. Still he wound up taking a worse plea deal because of the bad advice of his first attorney and got 55 months imprisonment. That's down from the 72 months the government was asking for.
"I wish I would have taken the first plea deal I was offered but I didn't know any better. I think Price-Benowitz wanted to take it to trial so they could bill more hours of work and take advantage of me." —Mitchell Gardner
Update April 1- Currently Mitchell's children are struggling emotionally while learning to cope to life without their father. Mitchell is trying to raise money for them to see a counselor. His emotional support and financial support are being missed greatly.
