Newcomer Hacker ousts two-term Kings County District Attorney Fagundes

Keith Fagundes has had a challenging term that culminated Tuesday night in his defeat in the Kings County District Attorney race.

In a surprise upset, Sarah Hacker received nearly 58% of the vote — 6,548 to Fagundes' 4,751 votes. Because Hacker has more than 50% of the vote, she wins the race and ends Fagundes' time as district attorney.

Hecker is an attorney with Dias Law Firm in Hanford. She served as a Kings County deputy district attorney from 2006 to 2015. During her campaign, Hecker pledged to enforce the law on the streets and in the jail and seek out restitution orders so that victims would be compensated for their losses.

"I want to extend my thanks to all Hacker Backers. There were people who went all out and supported me openly and passionately. There were folks who quietly helped. And then there were those who I did not know who assisted too," she wrote on social media. "Thank you all. We all stand strong and proud to bring Justice for All."

Hacker has spoke out against Fagundes' decision to prosecute two Kings County mothers, Adora Perez and Chelsea Becker.

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"The goal of the district attorney’s office is to ensure the cases are prosecuted with integrity," her candidate statement read. "As your district attorney, I will focus on fairly and justly prosecuting cases."

The women struggled with addiction and delivered stillborn babies who tested positive for methamphetamine at Adventist Health hospital in the Kings County. Fagundes later filed charges that were eventually thrown out, but not before the women spent years behind bars.

Attorney General Rob Bonta later advised counties that the fetal murder cases were an attack on pregnant mothers. Former AG Xavier Becerra also argued that Fagundes "misapplied and misinterpreted" the law when he charged one of the mothers, Becker, with murder.

"Section 187 of the California Penal Code was intended to protect pregnant women from harm, not charge them with murder," the state's top law enforcement officer said in a 2020 news release. "Our laws in California do not convict women who suffer the loss of their pregnancy, and in our filing today we are making clear that this law has been misused to the detriment of women, children and families."

Despite the statewide backlash, Fagundes stood by his decision to prosecute the cases stating that someone needs to be a voice for the fetus.

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Fagundes faced another hurdle when a lawsuit was filed by former Kings County District Attorney Chief Investigator Robert Waggle.

According to the lawsuit, Fagundes started making unwanted advances toward Waggle, described as a "heterosexual male," in 2018. When the employee rebuffed Fagundes, the district attorney started to retaliate, the claim stated.

Fagundes disputes all allegations made in the claim and said it is "riddled with falsities."

"It's shocking and surprising he's taking this position," Fagundes said during a 2021 interview with the Times-Delta. "It is what it is at the end of the day."

Fagundes was elected as Kings County district attorney in 2014 and sworn in for his second term in 2019 with 71% of the vote.

On Sunday, ahead of Election Day, Fagundes posted to his campaign Facebook page thanking his campaign team.

"After months of campaigning, I am very proud of our team who has not stooped to the negative campaign tactics that include spreading false and misleading information that our opponent has used," he stated.

Fagundes was not the only district attorney to lose his seat on Tuesday in a major shift statewide.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled with 60% of voters in favor of removing him. Recently, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon faced the threat of a recall, but The Recall George Gascon campaign failed to gather enough signatures to place the recall vote on November's ballot.

In Merced County, Kimberly Lewis, the incumbent DA, appears to have lost by double digits to Nicole Silveira. Silveira is a supervising prosecutor in Lewis' office. The DA was down 30 points at one time Tuesday night.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Incumbent Kings County District Attorney ousted by newcomer