Judge Orders Father to Be Tried in Abuse Death of 2-Year-old

The first indication of trouble came with the appearance of a purple, half-dollar bruise on her 2-year-old grandson’s right cheek. Then came the black and blue marks, the gouges and scratches.

In an effort to get the attention of child welfare authorities, Gail Helms tallied up her grandson’s injuries in a diary she began in November 1994 and kept until the following April, when Lance Helms was struck with such force he died of massive internal injuries.

The documentation from a grandmother’s grim diary and other testimony Monday helped convince a judge that the toddler’s father, David Helms, 37, should stand trial on murder and child abuse charges.

Gail Helms was the last to testify in the five-hour preliminary hearing before Municipal Judge Gregg Marcus. Other witnesses included a pediatric surgeon and two Los Angeles Police Department detectives.

“We’re pleased to get to this point, and now it’s going to be in the hands of a jury,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Eleanor J. Hunter after the proceeding. “This is the type of case a jury should decide.”

But Hunter could have her work cut out for her at trial, especially given complications presented by the conviction of Helms’ former girlfriend, Eve Wingfield, for the same crime, the defense attorney for Helms said.

Two years ago, Wingfield was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a public defender persuaded her to plead guilty to a charge of child endangerment causing death. Otherwise, there was a risk she would have been convicted of murder by a jury, he said.

The lawyer’s advice was based on damaging testimony by Los Angeles County Medical Examiner James K. Ribe, which indicated that Lance had died 30 minutes to an hour after being beaten, which would have placed him in Wingfield’s care.

But Ribe gave a different version of Lance’s death when LAPD detectives reinvestigated the killing, shifting the time of the fatal blows to a period when Lance was in the care of his father, not Wingfield.

After evidence showing Wingfield could not have been home to administer the fatal blows was presented in court, she was released from custody last year and has since pleaded no contest to felony child abuse, her attorney said.

Ribe was not in court Monday. Instead, Hunter called pediatric surgeon Sharon Muenchow, who testified Lance Helms was hit so hard in the abdomen his liver was split and he died within 10 minutes.

Helms’ defense attorney Jack Stone said the conflicting opinion between Ribe and Muenchow could present problems for the prosecution when his client goes to trial.

“The whole case hinges on the credibility and the conflicting opinions of the doctors,” Stone said.

Paramedics were called to Helms’ North Hollywood apartment at 6:31 p.m. April 6, 1995. They found the toddler on the floor, with no pulse.

Helms told authorities his son “was conscious, talking and drinking water” shortly before he died, said the police report prepared by LAPD Det. Teresa Lopez and submitted to the court last June by Wingfield’s attorney.

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The new medical evidence showed the boy “suffered fatal injuries that were instantly incapacitating, leading to rapid death,” Lopez’s report stated. “Once Lance suffered these injuries, he would not have been able to move, talk, or do any activity,” it says.

Helms’ statement appears to conflict with the new medical evidence and Monday’s testimony.

“David Helms was the last adult to have care and custody of Lance Helms, during the time period immediately prior to his death,” Lopez’s report states, alleging that “Helms used his fist to repeatedly strike Lance Helms with tremendous force in the abdominal area, causing massive internal injuries and death.”

The boy’s death sparked widespread criticism of Los Angeles dependency court and led to changes in state child-abuse laws that favored a child’s safety over a policy of family reunification.

Lance, born addicted to drugs, was taken by the Department of Children’s Services from his drug-addicted parents and placed in the care of his aunt Ayn Helms. But David Helms later sought and won custody of the boy. Wingfield, a former nursing student, lived with Helms off and on and shared care of the boy.