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'...and fight hard for justice'

Crime victims have fierce advocate in Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer

By California State University, Bakersfield

February 21^st, 2023

In the fourth-floor office of Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer is a collection of cherished objects that reflect their owner’s allegiance to family, faith and home: A prize-winning 1957 oil on canvas painted by her mother, a plaque of appreciation from Taft’s Oildorado Days, a burlap sack of pistachios — a gift from her in-laws — with her name printed in teeny-tiny script on each of the shells, and an open Bible sitting on the cherrywood-veneered desk that was once used by her old boss and beloved mentor, Ed Jagels.

And inside a drawer of that desk are two letters and a book that represent why advocacy on behalf of crime victims has become the driving force of Zimmer’s career. A tribute in pictures from the mother and little sister of a young man murdered by gang members, the smiling faces on the pages belie the pain and loss of a life cut short by violence.

Dedicated to Cindy Zimmer: I will forever be grateful that God has put you in our path!

- Your friend forever, Maria

“This is precious to me. Very precious," Zimmer said. "These are the little things that reinforce that what you’re doing makes a difference to a lot of people. My most precious memories are working with the mothers of murdered children.”

Since being elected as Kern County's district attorney in 2018 — only the second woman to fill the role — Zimmer, 63, has prioritized the rights of crime victims, accelerated innovation in the DA’s crime lab, enhanced protection in rural communities, and now, months into her second term, has added the fight against human trafficking to that list.

“She’s an extremely hard worker,” said former District Attorney Jagels, who hired Zimmer soon after her graduation from Loyola Law School in 1984. “As a supervisor, you quickly get to know who works hard and who doesn’t. And she cares about her cases. She wants to win and protect victims.”

Zimmer will be honored for her work in the criminal justice system in March when the California State University, Bakersfield Alumni Hall of Fame inducts the district attorney, along with three other exemplary graduates of the university.

“I remember walking through Dorothy Donahoe Hall as a student, looking up and thinking 'this is really a neat place,' and now to be in the Hall of Fame? I don’t know what to say other than I’m completely humbled and honored,” she said. “I don’t know that I’m necessarily worthy, but I am very proud of what Cal State did for me, and I hope to pass what I’ve learned along to other people who will someday sit in this seat."

Cynthia Zimmer’s husband, Richard, and children, William and Elizabeth, join her as she is sworn in as Kern County district attorney.

'It was Cindy calling to say 'I want to help' '

As co-founder of the Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association, Raji Brar remembered feeling helpless when a number of tragic domestic violence and abuse cases made headlines in recent years, devastating the county’s growing number of families, like her own, who have emigrated from south Asia.

And then one day, out of the blue, the phone rang.

“It was Cindy calling me to say, ‘I want to help.’ When you’re in that moment and have someone willing to walk you through the process, it was awesome,” Brar said.

In December, Zimmer, Brar, local legislative leaders and representatives of law enforcement and social service agencies met in Lamont to celebrate the fruition of Zimmer’s offer to help.

The Family Justice Center offers victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, child molestation and human trafficking a safe haven and access to a number of services, including confidential counseling, legal advice, assistance with restraining orders, emergency shelter, the immigration process and more.

The Lamont location is the second in Kern County after the 2018 launch of the Bakersfield center, which has helped 10,000 victims, Zimmer said, though relatively few residents from the south part of the county, including Arvin, Lamont, Taft and Frazier Park.

“Many of them come from Mexico or other countries south of here, and there’s not a tremendous amount of trust in the law enforcement and the criminal justice system,” she said. “So people who are abused in those areas, oftentimes they don’t report it because they don’t have trust in the system and they’re also afraid of deportation. We do not deport victims.”

Brar and her organization are already making use of the service.

“For us on our end, now we know where to send folks,” said the businesswoman and philanthropist. “We’re not licensed therapists. The phone calls are heavy, they’re a lot. To be able to say, we’re a resource, we’ll listen, but I’m going to help you get to a professional to help you, that’s really making a difference in the lives of so many women and children.”

Without that intervention, many young people turn to gangs for the connection and support they’re not getting at home, said Zimmer, who supervised the district attorney’s gang unit for many years. And, increasingly, neglected children become vulnerable to human trafficking, which the district attorney calls “modern-day slavery.”

Zimmer has assigned a prosecutor to deal exclusively with sex-trafficking cases and has formed a task force of social service agencies and churches to address the needs of the victims.

“I don’t think people — and I include myself in this — understood what is behind human trafficking, specifically the victims, the sex workers. Who are they?" she said. "The average age of a child who falls into trafficking is 11 to 14 years old. We are doing everything we can do to battle this, with education first and foremost to law enforcement, to physicians, to teachers, to churches, to parents, the foster care system. What are the red flags? Does a young girl dress in normal clothes one day and then come in with a Coach bag the next? And then prosecution. It is a terrible, terrible way of life for children.”

Cynthia Franks, the baby of her family, with her siblings and mother.

Cynthia Zimmer, second from right, and her friends on graduation day from Coalinga High School in west Fresno County.

Cynthia Zimmer at her graduation from Cal State Bakersfield. She earned her degree in political science, with a minor in business.

'She had that spark, what it takes to be an effective advocate'

Zimmer’s own childhood in Coalinga was centered around family, faith and community, thanks to her parents, Eugene and Ophelia Franks, farm kids who migrated to the region from Arkansas at the outset of World War II. Neither of her parents had the opportunity to graduate from high school; her dad worked in the concrete industry in the oil fields while her mom stayed home with Cindy — the youngest — and her brother and two sisters.

“What I think shaped my view of the world were the times,” Zimmer said. “I remember when President Kennedy was assassinated as well as Martin Luther King [Jr.]. I saw my third-grade teacher cry when Robert Kennedy was murdered. And my life was very shaped by the Vietnam war. I lost a cousin early on in Vietnam, and later, my brother served in Vietnam.”

The Franks family was so close-knit that Zimmer’s older sister, Kathy Scrivner, lived next door with her own young family. Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner, Zimmer’s nephew, said his aunt was more like a cool older sister who would take him out for hikes and other adventures with her friends.

“That little house that Cindy and my mom and their brother and sister grew up in, we had it in the family until my grandma passed away at age 99,” he said. “We were always all together on Christmas and Thanksgiving, and I’m talking aunts, uncles and cousins all cramming into an 1,100-square-foot house with one bathroom, no shower — just a tub — with all those people staying the night. We would sleep out in the garage in the back of the camper on my grandma’s tiny little pickup, but we had a blast.”

Zimmer first visited CSUB for a high school cheerleading camp in 1975, when the campus was still in its infancy. She had a wonderful time staying in the dorms and loved her experience, she said, which gave Cal State Bakersfield the edge over Fresno State when she was ready to transfer from West Hills College.

A political science major with a business minor, Zimmer credits Dr. Ray Geigle and Dr. Stanley Gene Clark as her two greatest influences during her time at the university. When she mentioned to Geigle that she was interested in law school, he found work for her in a local law firm.

“My job title was ‘errand girl,’” she said. “I drove my ’69 Volkswagen Bug around Bakersfield to the courthouse and other law firms and basically delivered papers and cleaned up in some of the offices of the lawyers, but it was a good experience.”

And it confirmed for Zimmer that she wanted to become a lawyer. After graduating with her political science degree in 1981, she headed to Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, competing with students from UCLA and USC.

“I was teased a little bit that I wasn’t a Trojan or a Bruin, but I was very proud of my education and roots. CSUB prepared me very well for law school,” she said.

It was during a summer break back home in Bakersfield that Zimmer was inspired by a young man running for district attorney. His name was Ed Jagels and he was just 32 years old. Eventually, when she left law school, he would hire her as a deputy district attorney.

“What I looked for was a commitment,” said Jagels, who served as Kern County district attorney for 28 years. “We were not that interested in somebody that was just looking for a job. She was articulate and presented herself well. The acid test for a deputy district attorney is how will a jury react to that person. And she had that spark, what it takes to be an effective advocate.”

Zimmer still speaks with fondness and reverence for her former boss, whose desk she kept even though she conceded with a rueful smile that its 1980s style clashes with the rest of the décor in her office.

“Because Ed Jagels sat here right where I’m sitting today, I hope a little bit of his wisdom rubs off on me.”

“Give me a break,” Jagels said when told of his protégé’s praise. “She so outshines me in that job!”

Richard and Cynthia Zimmer on their wedding day.

Cynthia and Richard Zimmer with their children, William and Elizabeth, as well as the family pets.

'I hope I can be that role model'

Re-elected to a second term in 2022, Zimmer reflected on the decision to run for office the first time, which came after “months and months of prayer” and consultation with her husband, attorney Richard Zimmer, and their children, Elizabeth and William, twins who are now 31.

“I’m not the first woman district attorney in Kern County, but I’m the first to run in a contested campaign, and I ran against a man,” she said. “It’s not easy to run for office. But I’ll tell you, it prepared me for the position. My first debate actually was at CSUB, and Dr. Clark had just died. I don’t know — during that debate, I just felt he was with me. And I felt at home. I went to school there, and my opponent had not. He was a nice guy, don’t get me wrong, but I felt a little bit of an emotional advantage from being at my school, in my town, trying to do something for my town that I cared about.”

Dr. Jeanine Kraybill, associate professor of political science and director of CSUB’s pre-law program, noted that the university hosted that debate, which drew an overflow crowd.

“Since then, she has been active in the program,” Kraybill noted of Zimmer, who has taught classes at Taft College and guest lectured at CSUB. “Despite her busy role as the DA and a community leader, DA Zimmer always makes herself available to our pre-law students. If she sees them at court, she stops, greets them, and asks if they have questions. She invites us annually through our Court Observer Program to meet her at the DA’s Office and talks to the students about the role of a prosecutor. She’s a hands-on DA who cares about the students and their futures.”

Andrea Kohler, one of two assistant district attorneys who help Zimmer run the office of 250 employees, characterized her boss’s management style as “lead from the front.”

“She’s not one of those people who says, ‘I’ll come in a little bit later. I’ve got administrative things to do,’ and then leave," Kohler said. "She’s very involved in being a lawyer and being a prosecutor. She’s also very nurturing of young attorneys and new attorneys. And she really celebrates the victories, the successes that people in the office have.”

Decades after their first meeting in 1990, Kohler said her friend — and now boss —is the same Cindy: Great sense of humor, genuine and incredibly dedicated.

“I think above all else that you have to be ethical and you have to be hardworking and if you do both of those things, you will succeed in the office,” Kohler said. “She designed a whole new logo for our office and it’s awesome. It says, ‘Liberty Demands Justice.’ And I think that means everything to her and this community and our office.”

In addition to her many community roles and position as district attorney, earlier this month Zimmer embraced a new title: Grandma.

Daughter Elizabeth gave birth to the Zimmers’ first grandchild, who is “beautiful,” her proud grandmother reports. When the baby is old enough, Zimmer intends to pass on the things she got from her own parents: a love of music and art (Zimmer plays violin at Valley Baptist Church), devotion to family, community and justice.

The entire family will join Zimmer at CSUB in March for the induction ceremony. Zimmer hopes that her example will serve as inspiration for other young people — especially those in small towns — who wonder if they have what it takes to succeed in college.

“I had a role model in how to be a very loving mother, and I hope I was a good mother," she said. "But as far as being a working woman, dealing with very difficult things, I didn’t have any role models like that, so I hope I can be that role model for some young women who want to go into court, mix it up and fight hard — and fight hard for justice.”