South L.A. candidate was charged with stabbing a woman in 1993. She says they're friends

Michelle Chambers was 19 and living in Harrisburg, Pa., when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for stabbing a pregnant woman with a kitchen knife in 1993.

The woman was a friend then, Chambers said, and remains a friend now, years after Chambers moved to California and built a career in local and state government.

But now the decades-old allegations are resurfacing as Chambers runs for a South Los Angeles seat in the state Senate in a hotly contested race against fellow Democrat Laura Richardson.

Chambers declined The Times’ request for an interview to discuss the allegations, but provided a written statement through her campaign. It said that at the time, she was a single mother living in public housing who could not afford a lawyer to prove her self-defense case in a jury trial. Chambers argued that the ordeal is emblematic of flaws within the criminal justice system, which reflects her current policy positions against tough-on-crime bills.



https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-16/south-la-candidate-michelle-chambers-california-legislature-stabbed-woman