San Mateo County prosecutors have abandoned efforts to prove a former prominent child psychiatrist is mentally fit to stand trial a second time on accusations he molested several male patients, sending him to a state mental hospital and essentially ending a prolonged legal battle over the fate of the 79-year-old man.
Prosecutor Melissa McKowan stipulated that William Hamilton Ayres, who reportedly suffers from Alzeimer’s-related dementia, is incompetent. The announcement came on what would have been the start of Ayres’ second jury trial on the competency issue. Although the defense has the burden of proof in this mental issue, defense attorney Jonathan McDougall appeared ready to try the matter as many times as necessary rather than letting Ayres be found competent by default.
Instead, the prosecution relented.
“The bottom line is we spent a good deal of time seeing if we could improve our case but that level of evidence we have just doesn’t accomplish that,” said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. “Another trial will cost county taxpayers thousands of dollars and we can’t just willy-nilly throw that away.”
McDougall did not return a call for comment.
A placement report is due by the end of the month and Judge Jack Grandsaert will rule Sept. 7 where Ayres should be committed. The law requires a locked facility for a minimum of six months and Napa State Hospital seems the most likely although he could be transferred in the future to a different locked facility.
During Ayres’s first competency trial, which hung 8-4 earlier this year, both the defense and prosecution agreed he likely has some age and Alzheimer’s related dementia. The question for jurors was if it was enough to find him unable to help McDougall prepare for a criminal defense.
Ayres had already stood trial once in 2009 on nine varied counts of child molestation and substantial sexual contact. That jury hung in varying amounts on every count, including some with as narrow a margin as 11 to 1, and prosecutors planned a retrial. The criminal trial could not be held while questions of Ayres’ competency remained.
After the mistrial, Ayres replaced his hired attorney, Doron Weinberg, with McDougall. McKowan argued to jurors that having been tried and testified once, Ayres did not need to be as fully aware of court proceedings the second time around and in any case was not hopelessly impaired by Alzheimer’s disease.
Two of three court-appointed doctors found Ayres competent but McDougall requested a jury’s verdict.
McDougall asked jurors how his client, who cannot remember his children’s middle names or the word for simple items like biscuit, could possible help defend himself against felony child molestation allegations by six former male patients when they were aged 9 to 13. The alleged abuse happened between 1988 and 1996 under the guise of medical exams.
The Ayres case drew wide publicity after his 2007 arrest because he commonly received referrals from the county’s courts, schools and social workers. He also served as president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry between 1993 to 1995 and developed a controversial sex education program for teenagers called “Time of Your Life.”
Wagstaffe said he is not disappointed the case resolved because it was warranted under the circumstances but that he wished the alleged victims could get the type of closure they sought.
“I’m disappointed and sad this man has been able to elude justice. It took four years to get to this point and for that and for the victims I am sad,” Wagstaffe said.
The stipulation did not sit well with the alleged victims, their families and supporters who believe the prosecution dragged its feet on filing charges against Ayres.
“The families believe that this case should never have been tried by San Mateo County in the first place. Ayres was under contract by the juvenile courts for decades and the San Mateo District Attorney’s Office itself hired Ayres to evaluate boys. This is a clear conflict of interest,” said Victoria Balfour a freelance writer who became connected to the case through her friendship with one alleged victim and actively pushed authorities to purse charges.
As worries grew that the District Attorney’s Office would stipulate to Ayres’ incompetence, the group hired a private investigator to follow and videotape him in hopes of securing proof he was mentally fit. An attorney delivered the footage and a report of the investigators findings to prosecutors.
The silent footage, also provided to the Daily Journal, shows Ayres having lunch at a San Francisco restaurant with his wife and two people. The investigator noted Ayres spoke about politics, doing puzzles and a former patient.
Balfour said it is “incomprehensible” to victims and their families that Ayres would not be deemed competent based on his behavior in the video. Wagstaffe said he understands how these individuals feel about his office’s work in this case but said it is not what dragged out a resolution.
“It took two years from filing to get to trial and, but for one juror who hung 11 to 1, Ayres would have been in prison two years and those victims’ families wouldn’t have any complaint at all,” he said.
http://liarcatchers.com/electronic_surveillance.html
