DA candidate botched several cases; she’s not qualified to be our district attorney

We have been prosecutors for a combined 48 years and supervisors in the Merced County District Attorney’s office for 19. We worked with and supervised Kim Helms Lewis when she was a deputy DA. After she left in 2007, we discovered the worst mess, literally and legally, we had ever encountered.

Most significantly, we learned she had failed to file two cases involving annoying or molesting a child before the statute of limitations expired – this prevented us from prosecuting either case.

Worse, Helms failed to file charges in a case involving the rape of a 16-year-old foster child for nearly three years, despite DNA evidence linking the alleged rapist to the crimes. When we discovered her failure, detectives were asked to re-contact the victim. After such a lengthy, negligent delay, the victim declined to cooperate. As a result, her alleged assailant literally got away with two acts of rape. This is all on the public record.

We were not surprised that Helms Lewis refuses to turn over her personnel file for voters to examine. We expect her work as a deputy county counsel was just as shoddy as her work in our office. Given our experience, we were stunned she announced her intention to run for Merced County District Attorney. She is simply not qualified.

This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 3:29 PM with the headline "DA candidate botched several cases; she’s not qualified to be our district attorney."