Two heart attacks and a stroke later, Judge Leslie Isaiah Gaines is an all-new man.

        “I'm such a new man, my brother, that the only part left of the old Judge Gaines is a black derby.”

        He's not kidding: New wife, name of Jennifer. New baby name of Maliyah Jensaiah Joyce Maxine Gaines. New career as a writer. New health regimen that includes a 4- to 5-mile daily walk and five medications a day. A new book called How to Die ... And Live to Tell About It. And a new determination to remain a faithful husband.

Leslie Isaiah Gaines with wife Jennifer and new baby Maliyah Jensaiah Joyce Maxine Gaines. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        Judge Gaines, 56, born in Sandy Spring, Md., and educated at Washington D.C.'s Howard University, moved to Cincinnati in 1971 with his black derby teetering atop a massive Afro.

        “I came for a one-year assignment with Legal Aid and fell in love with the city. I never left.

        “Deborah (Gaines, former wife and also a former judge) came with me, we adopted two children and I went into private practice.”

        And that's how everybody got to know Les Gaines: His 6-foot-4 inch, nearly 300-pound frame and booming voice thundering “Call if you need me” on TV commercials.

Concentrated on homicides

        Lots of people did. “I handled 75 to 100 homicide cases and did the best I could for my clients. But I realized two things, that the stress was killing me with my high blood pressure and heart condition, and that these people didn't care about me in the first place, but only saw me as a hired gun to get them off or help them get away with murder.

        “I'll tell you what turned me from homicide. A number of years ago, I was getting out of my car at the courthouse and a little girl came up and asked if I was Les Gaines. I said yes, thinking she was going to say something about a speech I gave at her school. Instead, she said, "You're the man who defended the man who killed my mother.' That went through me like a knife. I mean it rocked me. Stress like that ... ”

        Three years as a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge did nothing to ease the stress — actually made it bad enough that he once thought he saw a vision of Jesus on a marble pillar at the courthouse — so in 1996 he stepped down to become a full-time evangelist and motivational speaker.

        One thing that didn't help the stress: A parade of women in and out of his life, and never mind a wife waiting for him at home. “I wasn't an ideal husband, and I talk about it in my motivational speeches. Sexual lust has brought down preachers, presidents, great men.

        “I realized that I had to put that life behind me when I finally understood that manhood is not associated with how many women you have. That idea is nothing but baggage and junk.

Living holy and faithful
       

        “I knew I needed to live my life as a holy man, faithful to one woman. In my heart I knew I could, but it took God to deliver me. He did, two years ago. My life in that aspect is junk-free.”

        Junk. He uses that word a lot. He calls himself "The Junkman.' He's working on another book, The Junkman's Cookbook, Soul Food for Your Mind. The non-denominational church he founded is Everybody's Tabernacle, “The perfect church for imperfect people where everybody is somebody because God didn't make no junk.”

        “Everyone has junk in their lives — violence, drugs, gangs, infidelity. Getting rid of that junk so you can live a holy and productive life, that's my message.

        “I gave that speech all over the country, but when my health got so bad, I started traveling less. I know he's going to kill me for saying this, but Mr. Carl Lindner saw the value of my message and started helping out, so I could travel less.”

        His health is still a concern. Heart attack No. 1 came Sept. 15, 2000, while speaking at a YMCA program. Heart attack No. 2 came Jan. 15, 2001 in Saint Louis at a Martin Luther King Day program.

        Neither was severe enough to require extensive rehab, but the stroke, well, that was different.

        That came Sept. 23, 2000, one week after his heart attack. He was punishing a plate full of ribs and suddenly “felt as if someone had walked up to me and smashed me in my right temple with a sledge hammer.

        “I was in the hospital a week and Jennifer never left my side. But I was lucky in that the stroke hit a part of the brain that doesn't control motor functions. The only remnant now is I get words jumbled. I'm thinking one thing and another comes out. Or syllables get twisted. If that's the only thing I have to live with, well, I can. Jennifer is always there to help.”

        Once he starts talking about Jennifer, there's no stopping him. He met her, a diversity trainer, when she came to interview him about a project she was working on.

        “We talked a lot and started getting close. We married Dec. 21, 2000. On Jan. 14, 2001, we found out she was expecting and I was so excited because it would be the first child of my own seed. I always thought I couldn't have a baby.

        “The next day I had a heart attack. Maliyah was born Sept. 14 and you know what? She hasn't been out of our sight yet. She's never seen a baby sitter.”

        It's easy to keep baby Maliyah in sight because in his new career as a writer, Judge Gaines is home most of the day. So is Jennifer, who's co-writing with him. With 10 books on the drawing board, they're doing a lot of writing.

        Why I Walk, due in a week or so, is a pictorial full of people he's met walking through Over-the-Rhine and Washington D.C.'s inner-city the past 40 years.

        The Junkman's Cookbook is inspirational stories for people at a low point. Specifically, in need of inspiration.

        Then there's Hated For Who I Love, an especially personal project. “Being an interracial couple, Jennifer and I have encountered our own set of problems. I'll talk about them in the book.

        “But being interracial has also helped because people see us and take our racial healing message seriously. They see we live it.

        “They also see us living a peaceful, stress-free life where we accept every new day as a gift from God.

        “I am truly blessed.”

        Judge Gaines preaches 11 a.m.-noon Sundays at Everybody's Tabernacle, 2622 Gilbert Ave. He'll sign How to Die 1-3 p.m. there today. The book is $20 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Borders Tri-County and Brighter Day Christian Book Store, or by writing Junkman Series Books, P.O. Box 532 Westchester, 45071.

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