A Deep Look at Candidate for Humboldt County DA, Stacey Eads

Stacey Eads [Photo provided by Eads]

Today, we’ll meet Eads and later, we’ll introduce Kamada.

Stacey Eads in one of Humboldt’s beautiful spots. [Photo provided by Eads]

Eads is also very proud of her relationship with the current District Attorney, Maggie Fleming. She noted that when she came to the District Attorney’s Office, Maggie was there before her and very supportive. “I will forever be grateful for the mentorship and guidance that Maggie has given me.” She said the two of them bonded in part because both of them were juggling the job of being a parent with their work. She explained, “There were other parents that were District Attorney’s, but Maggie was the only mom.”

She added though that their personalities meshed as well. “We’re both a bit shy if you will,” she explained. She noted that for both she and DA Fleming “putting ourselves out into the public light isn’t easy.” She told us that although entering the public melee is difficult, “ I’m not doing it for myself, I’m doing it for the community and for the office. The community is being very well served by the office and I want that service to continue.” 

District Attorney Maggie Fleming and Deputy DA Stacey Eads. [Image from the Stacey Eads for DA campaign page]

Some of the work she is proudest of revolves around her prosecution of child abuse cases. She is the current leader of the DA’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Crimes prosecution team. When asked what case she was proudest of her work on, she told us, “I have taken a number of cases to trial. I’ve worked with a number of victims. I don’t think it is fair to say [one particular case].”

But she went on to mention two cases. The first Eads spoke of was the Seng Yang case involved a 16-year-old* girl alleging that her father had been sexually abusing her and videotaping and selling the tape. Eads said the case had a “lot of challenges” including language barriers and a deaf witness, but Eads was able to get a conviction. “Her father will spend his life in jail,” she said proudly.

Eads is happy that the siblings were not just given justice but also found a new home. “Ultimately after that trial, the children were able to stay together when one of the teachers of one of her siblings took all of the siblings into their home,” she said.

In another case Eads spoke about which highlighted her ability to bring justice to victims was the Barry Sanford case where she successfully prosecuted the abuser of an autistic youth. In both cases, she credited the courage and strength of the victims for the victory. “My greatest accomplishment is supporting victims through the system,” she told us. “Empowerment of the victims.”

Two high profile cases Eads prosecuted were the Marci Kitchen case, where a mother struck and killed her daughter and her daughter’s friend then fled the scene, and the Gary Bullock case where a Southern Humboldt man was convicted of the New Year’s Day murder of Father Eric Freed.

One of the aspects of being District Attorney that Eads says she’ll find most difficult is the staff “must follow the law and apply the facts that are presented to us.–we are not always able to prosecute cases even when we believe the victim. That is one of the greatest challenges.” She noted, “I think sometimes the public doesn’t always understand about the limitations we have. One of the biggest challenges is to educate the public on what the restraints are and when [it is] appropriate to seek changes of the law.”

She noted, “One other tremendous challenge is to maintain an office of ethical prosecutors. I think we have a well-staffed office of qualified prosecutors.” But she said, she will be continuously working to make sure this continues. 

Eads said that “one of the primary changes” she will make “will be on recruitment and retention.” She says that she hopes to go “to law schools and let them know we are looking. That could also diversify the office in terms of viewpoints.”

In addition, she points out that there is “a strong need for a retention of our support staff.” She hopes to “have them receive pay that is representative of the work that they do…We are very reliant on a strong support staff.” And, she says the support staff are underpaid. “They could apply for jobs in the fast food industry at the entry level and receive comparable pay,” she told us.

Eads says she wants to continue to have the same prosecutor, in child and elder abuse as well as sexual abuse cases, “take a case from the beginning and work it all the way to the end. She feels there is a lot of value in having the same person “involved in early stages like child victim interviews” and carrying that through “to sentencing and beyond.”  She explained how important that can be to the victims. “I’m still in touch with many of the families who have gone through sentencing and appeal,” she said. “I still have interactions with them.”

Then, when we asked her what she thinks will be her favorite part of the job, Eads answered, “The people. I find that serving the people is by far the most rewarding part of the job.” But, she added with a wry sound to her voice, “Sometimes the most rewarding is also the most challenging.” 

When asked about what the other candidate, Adrian Kamada, characterized as “a string of acquittals” last fall, Eads denied there was such a thing. “I disagree that there have been a string of acquittals,” she told us. She said that there have been five felony trials in 2022. Four of them received guilty verdicts and the other one resulted in a hung jury. She brought up the David Dues case saying that it “was an example of a challenging sexual assault case that fully warranted proceeding to trial.  His case had multiple charges, including an assault w/ intent to commit rape charge.  The assault to commit rape didn’t result in conviction, however, the jury did convict on felony false imprisonment.  The case was very important to take to the jury for their decision regarding the intent of Mr. Dues, who has a documented history of sexual deviance, at the time he assaulted the survivor while she worked alone at a laundromat.***  

She pointed out that the job of the DA’s office wasn’t necessarily to get convictions but instead to make sure that the facts were determined accurately. “I don’t think the success of an office rests on the number of convictions,” she told us. “We represent the people as a whole and are finders of truth.”

When asked about transparency and communication–about getting information to the media and through them to the public, she responded that she would use “press releases, conversations, and try to have as much accessibility as possible.” But she said that it wasn’t possible to release information on every case. “With the volume of cases, releasing information on every case would be absolutely impossible,” she told us. But that she hoped to release information on  “the majority of cases that do go to trial…It is important to keep folks well informed.”

Eads denied that there was a backlog of cases in Humboldt County. She told us, “There was a really large backlog when Maggie first came into office [and] there is some backlog in light of COVID.” But, she said, “Our office was open through COVID. I personally handled two trials through the pandemic. We could have had a much more significant backlog [if the DA’s Office hadn’t been so active].”

When we asked her how she planned to address the frustration that law enforcement is not keeping up with environmentally harmful marijuana grows, she told us, “Those cases, if there are environmental crimes, if it rises to the level of criminal in nature, those are crimes I would prosecute.”

Why does Eads think people should vote for her and not her opponent? “One of the advantages [I have is] working with the DA and having an extensive amount of experience that goes well beyond what he has.”

She says that she has more experience “in terms of management, working with people, serving the public, [and] trials.” 

She summed this up as “experience, integrity and ability.” Then added, “I have a strong reputation for my professionalism and my ethics. I’m very upfront and fair. I think I have a very strong sense of justice and compassion. I’m open and I appreciate input from others. I’m very thoughtful.” 

If you are interesting in learning more about Stacey Eads, her website is www.staceyeads4da.com

*Please note: We incorrectly reported the age of the victim. We also incorrectly understood that the victim was awarded victim of the year. Instead, that was another abuse victim.

***Ms Eads wanted to clarify that she was speaking of the 2022 trials. We’ve updated this paragraph substantially.

Note: That the original article didn’t mention Michael Acosta was also running for DA. We apologize for that oversight.