UPDATE: Jury Recommends 22 Years for Gardner

Update (5:47 p.m.): An Arlington County jury recommended convicted sex offender Michael Gardner spend 22 years in prison. He will be formally sentenced Sept. 7.

Gardner was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual assault and a count of object sexual penetration Wednesday afternoon.

Original post (3:23 p.m.): An Arlington County jury will decide what punishment to give Gardner after he was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual battery and a single count of object sexual penetration. Judge Benjamin Kendrick ruled a mistrial in the third aggravated sexual battery charge because the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

Kendrick said each aggravated sexual battery charge carries a term of one to 20 years.

The parents of the two young victims read impact statements on the stand Wednesday.

“When we talk about this it always brings tears to her eyes,” said the father of one of the 10-year-old victims. “She always says, ‘He had a choice.’ ”

Prosecutor Alex Amato asked the jury to remember that Gardner put the victims and their families through almost a year of pain.

“He was the man who was supposed to protect them from the boogie man,” Amato told the jury. “He was the evil that came in the night.”

An emotional Robin Gardner took the stand and said the whole year after the June 18 incident “had an impact on our family.” Robin Gardner, a sitting councilwoman in the City of Falls Church, said she and her family had to be careful where they went around Falls Church to avoid running into the victims and to avoid talking about the case with others. The family has gone through some serious changes since her husband turned himself in.

“I lost my job so I had to find a new job quickly,” she said.

Peter Greenspun, Gardner’s attorney, asked the jury to consider his client will punished enough by missing events in his children’s lives and asked them to consider giving him a seven-year sentence.

Gardner was convicted after five days of testimony and evidence. Deputies with the Arlington County Sheriff's Office took him into custody.