Flanked by her husband and her father, Kim Lemos waited quietly
Friday morning in the back of a courtroom at the South County
Courthouse to be arraigned on a felony spouse abuse charge.
Flanked by her husband and her father, Kim Lemos waited quietly Friday morning in the back of a courtroom at the South County Courthouse to be arraigned on a felony spouse abuse charge.
The Live Oak High School assistant principal and her family refused to comment outside the courtroom and Lemos’ father ordered her defense attorney not to discuss the case in front of the media. Kim Lemos’ attorney, Todd Davis, also declined to comment, saying it was “not really a good time.”
Inside the courtroom, Kim Lemos and her husband Tim – the alleged victim in the case – joined Davis in politely requesting Gregory Saldivar, a Santa Clara County Superior Court commissioner, to issue a peaceful contact protective order instead of the no contact protective order he mentioned at the beginning of the proceedings.
After consulting quietly with Davis and Deputy District Attorney Steve Lowney, Saldivar granted the peaceful contact order, reminding Kim Lemos of the order’s stipulations.
“When I say peaceful contact, I mean peaceful contact,” Saldivar said.
Gilroy Police arrested Kim Lemos, 39, Aug. 26 after she turned herself in for an incident that occurred the night before at her home on the 1400 block of Swallow Lane in Gilroy.
Kim Lemos and her husband had been arguing about “marriage issues” when she “took a knife and stabbed the victim in the chest,” according to the police report. Tim Lemos suffered an additional wound to his left hand when he tried to grab the knife from his wife, according to the police report, but he did not require immediate medical attention.
The two continued to argue, and about an hour after Tim Lemos was stabbed, his wife punched him several times in the forehead, on the right eye and on the right side of his mouth, according to the report.
Tim Lemos later drove himself to Saint Louise Regional Hospital to get stitches for the cut he sustained to his left hand.
Though police originally arrested Kim Lemos on suspicion of inflicting injury on a spouse and assault with a deadly weapon, the district attorney chose not to file on the latter charge because it’s uncertain if Kim Lemos intended to stab her husband or if the stabbing took place as a result of a struggle over the knife, Lowney said.
“It’s unclear at this point who was responsible for the knife wounds,” he said. “That may be clarified at the preliminary hearing.”
Prosecutors may amend the charges as they see fit, he said.
Kim Lemos left the residence before police responded to the incident at about 10 p.m. Aug. 25 after receiving a call from the victim’s grown son, who reported his stepmother for assaulting his father, according to the police report. She turned herself in to police the next day, but refused to give a statement, according to the police report.
Tim Lemos later told police he wanted to recant his statement, saying “the whole incident was an accident.”
In domestic violence cases, the court issues a protective order automatically, Lowney explained after the hearing. If the victim doesn’t provide input, the judge issues a no contact order. If the victim does make a statement, Lowney said the court may consider issuing a peaceful contact protective order, as in the Lemos case.
If a defendant violates the peaceful contact order, that violation can be charged as a misdemeanor.
“That happens all the time,” Lowney said.
Kim Lemos, who taught English at Gilroy High School until 2003, returned to her job at Live Oak High School after the incident said Superintendent Wes Smith of the Morgan Hill Unified School District.
In a phone call Thursday afternoon to Live Oak to ask if Lemos was at work, after several minutes on hold a secretary said “no comment.”
However, four Live Oak students who were leaving school Thursday said Lemos was on campus that day.
“Her car is right over there,” one student pointed out.
As assistant principal, her duties include dealing with discipline, attendance, athletics and school safety, among other responsibilities.
Lemos’ case was scheduled for the Felony Advanced Resolution calendar 8:30 a.m. Oct. 14 in Department 110 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill. At that meeting, attorneys and the judge will discuss possibly resolving the case prior to a preliminary hearing.
