Mickel Lewis Sr.

Mickel Lewis Sr., 39, a father of seven, was shot and killed by Kern County, California Sheriff's Deputy Jason Ayala during a traffic stop in Mojave on October 2, 2020. Ayala had been surveilling Lewis based on a confidential informant's tip that he possessed a gun while on probation; a pat-down found no weapon. The sheriff's office said Lewis then ran to his car, reached under the seat, and charged at Ayala with his hand in his waistband, prompting Ayala to fire five shots, two striking Lewis in the back. No gun was found on or near Lewis; a handgun was later recovered behind a utility pole where a passenger from his car had been seen. An internal sheriff's review board found Ayala acted within department policy and returned him to duty within weeks. No criminal charges were ever filed. In March 2025, a federal jury in Fresno unanimously awarded Lewis's family $30.5 million, finding Ayala used excessive and unreasonable force and was negligent — the second-largest jury verdict for a police shooting in California history. No one has ever been criminally charged in Lewis's death.

Mojave, CA · Kern County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The surveillance, the traffic stop, and the shooting, per Kern County Sheriff's Office surveillance footage released publicly and testimony at the 2025 federal civil trial.
• A pat-down search of Lewis, conducted because he was on probation, found no weapon before the shooting occurred.
• Ayala fired five shots, two of which struck Lewis in the back; no gun was found on or near Lewis's body, though a handgun was later recovered behind a utility pole near where one of his passengers had been seen after the shooting.
• A sheriff's office review board found in November 2020 that Ayala acted within departmental policy, and he was returned to active duty; the board's findings were submitted to the Kern County District Attorney's office for review, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
• The family's lawsuit disputed the sheriff department's account, citing an independent autopsy showing none of the shots struck Lewis's front, which the family's attorney said contradicted the claim that he was charging forward when shot.
• A federal jury in the Eastern District of California unanimously found on March 19, 2025 that Ayala used excessive and unreasonable force and was negligent, awarding $5 million for Lewis's loss of life, $1 million for pre-death pain and suffering, and $24.5 million in wrongful death damages to his seven children — a total of $30.5 million, reported as the second-largest jury award for a police shooting in California history.
• Lewis had a lengthy prior criminal record and multiple pending cases at the time of his death; his family's attorneys argued this was used by the sheriff's department to unfairly characterize him rather than address the specific circumstances of the shooting itself.

• Whether Lewis charged at Ayala with his hand in his waistband, as the sheriff's department maintained, or was shot while unarmed and not charging, as the family's independent autopsy evidence suggested, was contested at the civil trial and never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.
• Whose handgun was recovered behind the utility pole, and how it related to Lewis or his passengers, has not been definitively established in public reporting.
• Why Ayala was returned to duty within weeks based on an internal review, before any independent investigation of the conflicting forensic evidence was complete, has not been fully explained.

• KGET 17 News — “Jury awards $30.5M to family of man killed by Kern County deputy: attorneys”
• Davis Vanguard — “$30.5 Million Verdict Brings Justice for Family of Mickel Lewis, Sr., in Kern County Police Shooting”
• KGET 17 News — “Deputy who fatally shot man who charged at him in Mojave acted within departmental policy, review board finds”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs