'Planting a Seed': Judge's Chance Encounter with Young Boy Changes His Life Forever

Dante Wright grew up in Surry County, Virginia, with parents who did not finish high school. 
 
He recently recalled the day back in 1997 when, at 4 years old, he and his older brother Leon almost literally bumped into a woman, who then took a special interest in them.

"I don't know why I remember it," Wright told CBN News. "Maybe it was because it was so monumental in my life. But I recall it vividly. So, my brother took my bicycle and ran into the street, and I chased after him. And her vehicle happened to be coming by at the same time. So, if there were five seconds before or after, we would've missed her. And so, she stops in the street, puts us back into the yard, and goes to my mom and says, 'Hey, your kids are out here in the street. This is very dangerous.'"

The woman happened to be General District Court Judge Gammiel Poindexter.

"They were in the middle of the road," Poindexter said in an interview with CBN News. "You play this, you got to figure out how to do that, get the car stopped, shoo the kids off the road. And then I turned around and went into the house and met their mother."

Poindexter and her husband, Gerald, an attorney, had already raised two sons who are also attorneys. But for some reason she felt compelled to build a bond with Wright and his family.

"We would have weekends," Poindexter explained. "We would do things together and I would take them to football games, and we would just do things for a while." 

As time went on, family legal problems caused Child Protective Services to become involved, which led to Wright and his siblings being moved around for a few years. Judge Poindexter eventually lost contact with him.

She later learned about the family's situation after Wright entered high school when she arranged to take him into her home.

"I don't know if people know, particularly Black boys, 15, people don't take them into homes. They have to end up in shelters or group home and so much could happen there. And so, my husband and I say, 'No, he's too good for that.' He needs something. He needs the best that he can get," said Poindexter.

***Please sign up for CBN newsletters and download the CBN news app to ensure you receive the latest news.***

Wright thrived living with the Poindexters. He graduated from high school with honors and earned an academic scholarship to Virginia State University.

His next move followed a familiar path.

"I think I was planting a seed for law school," Poindexter said. "So, he did criminal justice, and he did very well. And by the time he finished that, he said, 'I'm ready. I'm going to law school.'"

In 2018, Wright graduated with honors from North Carolina Central's school of law and passed the District of Columbia bar examination on his first attempt -- something he saw as impossible. 

"I thought for certain I was going to fail the bar exam," Wright said. "You think that at some point your luck is going to run out."

Judge Poindexter served in the courts until her retirement in 2007. 
 
But at Wright's urging, she reconsidered retirement, and today they are law partners at Poindexter and Wright in Smithfield, VA.

Wright credits his success to Poindexter, whom he often refers to as mom, a woman who took a chance on a kid she found in the road that paid off in the end.

"I couldn't understand that. I said, 'Well, why would you do that? What was it about? What made you want to do it?' And it's just who she is. There's no real reason for it. And sometimes you can't explain everything that life occurs, and perhaps that's divine intervention," Wright commented. 
 
"Well, I'll tell you this, he was a very special child," said Poindexter.