Father Charged in Killing of 2-Year-Old Boy

Three years to the day after his 2-year-old son was killed by a punch in the stomach, a Hollywood man was formally charged with the slaying in a notorious child abuse case that changed state law.

David Helms, 37, entered a not-guilty plea to each of the three felony counts against him--including murder--in connection with the death of his son, Lance, in a North Hollywood apartment April 6, 1995.

During the brief hearing, delayed until late afternoon as officials searched for an attorney who could be appointed to defend Helms, Municipal Court Commissioner Martin E. Green ordered that bail remain at $1.55 million and scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 7.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eleanor J. Hunter refused to comment outside court. Defense attorney Jack Stone said he knew too little about the facts to discuss details. “I’ve just been brought in on the case,” he said.

The toddler’s death ignited widespread criticism of the Los Angeles County dependency court. The court returned Lance--who had been taken away by social workers--to his father’s custody under a policy that emphasized reunification of families. As a result, the state Legislature passed a law requiring that the child’s safety be the ruling factor in such decisions.

“This is the third anniversary of Lance’s death,” said Gail Helms, mother of the defendant and grandmother of the dead boy. She said Monday that she planned to attend every court proceeding but conceded her son’s arraignment was difficult to watch. “I’ve had a queasy feeling in my stomach all day.”

Helms campaigned vigorously to have her son arrested even after his former girlfriend, Eve Wingfield, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after pleading guilty in Lance’s death to felony child endangerment at the advice of a public defender.

Last September, a Van Nuys Superior Court judge freed Wingfield, 25, on her own recognizance after 21 months behind bars, saying a new investigation of Lance’s slaying established a “compelling” case for her innocence.

The report by Los Angeles police detectives contained revised testimony from Dr. James Ribe, Los Angeles County deputy medical examiner, who testified at a preliminary hearing for Wingfield that the toddler died 30 to 60 minutes after he was beaten, during a period when Wingfield was caring for him.

But Ribe subsequently told the detectives that the boy succumbed almost instantaneously to strong blows in the abdomen that split his liver. David Helms was the only adult with the child when he died, the police report said.

Court documents also reported that David Helms had a history of striking his siblings in the abdomen. Also detailed was Helms’ criminal history dating back to 1978, which includes arrests and convictions for prostitution, burglary, narcotics and robbery.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Herscovitz, who handled the initial case against Wingfield, said David Helms was not arrested at that time because he had an alibi.

“It just seems to me that the whole case boils down to the fact that up through the time of her plea, the evidence pointed toward her [Wingfield],” Herscovitz said in an interview last week. “The only thing that changed all that was the coroner changing his testimony.”

Still, what Gail Helms cannot forget is the crime or the day she heard her grandson died. David went into his sister’s workplace and said, “Something happened to Lance,” she remembered. “He said, ‘He’s dead,’ just like that.” When his sister asked, “Where is he?” David Helms replied: “I don’t know. Where do they take dead babies?” according to his mother.