At today's hearing, the court was in receipt of the report provided by Napa State Hospital regarding william hamilton ayres' competency. The report was issued on the 23rd of July, and was received by the defense attorney and the prosecution on the 24th of July.
The report was delivered along with a “Certificate of Restoration” meaning that the treating facility (Napa State Hospital) has determined that ayres has been “restored” to competence and should therefore be capable of defending himself in criminal trial. Because the certificate was provided, the law states that within 10 days, the perpetrator is to be returned to the charging authority. There are provisions for tracking delays beyond the ten days, and it sounds like the authorities can be soundly spanked if they violate this provision too much.
It states the following:
“If the committing court approves the certificate of restoration to competence as to a person in custody, the court shall hold a hearing to determine whether the person is entitled to be admitted to bail or released on own recognizance status pending conclusion of the proceedings.”
Child molester ayres will be permitted to request a hearing, essentially contesting the declaration of competency. Defense Weasel McDougal has stated that he has not talked to his client yet, but that he anticipates that he will, of course, request this further hearing.
When ayres was committed to Napa State, his bail was returned to him. AP news organizations are reporting that this amount was $250K, but it was actually $750K. Because he is now considered to be again under the jurisdiction of the court, he is again entitled to a bail hearing.
McDougall will probably be arguing that because ayres turned himself in to Napa State, he is no flight risk and should therefore be let loose with no, or very little bail. The prosecution will no doubt be arguing that because he was deceptive in his competence, he is not trustworthy. (I’m making a leap here… We don’t know yet that the report says that he was lying, but based on several clues, I think we can safely assume that the report states exactly that.)
Scumbag McDougall asked that the report which accompanied the certificate be sealed until the hearing, arguing that it contained personal medical information. McKowan argued that the only medical information in the report was stuff that was already available to the public, as it was part of the competency trial.
The judge granted Scumbag McDougall’s request as usual.
We do get SOME clues as to what’s in the report:
1) McDougall says that releasing the report to the public could bring prejudice against the child molester.
2) McDougall wanted to “waive” the transport of ayres back into custody, and leave him at Napa State Hospital as he’d been there for 9 months, and “Napa should be the most accommodating versus jail.” The 1372 Statute indicates that if the defendant needs continued treatment to remain competent, that they can stay at the facility beyond the 10 days.
BUT Prosecutor McKowan stated that the content of the report indicates that it would be highly unlikely that Napa State would allow him to remain in their custody – In other words: ayres has been permanently “cured” of his dementia, and therefore can’t stay there any more. Judge Grandsaert mumbled that it would cost the county to keep him there too….
Hallelujah! Napa State Hospital has apparently found a miracle cure for Alzheimer’s or general dementia which normally only degrades over time! Not only have the geniuses there discovered a way to HALT dementia, but they’ve actually been able to REVERSE it!!!
What an exciting development!
Somebody call the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research and tell them the great news!!
–Meh… not so much… ayres has been competent all along, and his gambit was figured out by the docs at the loony bin. (Call the Fisher Center back and tell them to resume fundraising…)
So what’s next? (This is the “pure speculation” part of this article):
McDougall will whine that all of those doctors up at Napa are dolts, and that ayres is indeed still competent.
There will then be a hearing to decide if McDougall’s medical opinion is more weighty than the entire staff of trained psychiatric professionals at Napa State. If they find that he’s competent in spite of McDougall’s illustrious opinion, then the can determine if ayres should require bail or not, and how much.
The prosecution must then decide if they will proceed to try him again for his crimes of molesting many young boys under the guise of providing them with psychiatric care.
It has long been my contention that DA Wagstaffe does not desire to try him for his crimes, and there is apparently some understanding within political circles that this is so - my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. ( This was the rumor and innuendo part of the article.)
I’m assuming that Wagstaffe will grumble about saving the taxpayers a whole bunch of money, and everyone in the county will applaud him for his wisdom in letting yet another child molester wander around San Mateo County.
I could be wrong; I’ve been wrong before.
Also of note: SFGate has an article up (pdf), and in it they contacted the DA office, but didn’t talk to McKowan. Instead they talked to ADA Morley Pitt, who said:
“We are happy that the proceedings may be reinstated and that we can proceed to trial-setting and have the community and a jury decide whether the defendant committed the crimes we've alleged"
What this means, if anything... I have no idea.
[Update July 26, 2012]:
There's a pretty good article in The Examiner (pdf) about the ayres story. Also it appears that the articles about ayres that were posted in the Mercury News have disappeared for some reason.
In the Duke rape case, one of the accused had a time stamped video of him at an ATM machine that proved he wasn't there when the rape that never was, was supposed to have occurred.
ReplyDeleteBut when the lawyer for the accused called Mike Nifong, the DA in the Duke case to ask him to look at the video, Nifong REFUSED to look at the exculpatory evidence that exonerated the lacrosse player.
Now in the Ayres case, we've got the opposite. Last summer, after prosecutor Mckowan told parents of victims over and over that "Ayres was not competent to stand trial, " and that "no jury would ever find him to competent to go to trial" the desperate parents of victims hired a private investigator to prove once and for all that Ayres was competent.
But when the lawyer for the families contacted the prosecutor to ask her to look at the surveillance video that showed Ayres acting competent, the prosecutor REFUSED to look at the inculpatory evidence that would have shown Ayres was faking his "dementia."
What is wrong with this picture? What is the DA's office thinking?
The DA's office doesn't want to prosecute because the county of San Mateo referred countless children to Ayers over the course of 2 decades and they'll be held liable in civil litigation if he's found guilty.
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe that this is correct. Also many juvenile cases for which punitive measures were based on evaluation by the child molester will need judicial review and potential recompense. Very costly even if there are NO lawsuits.
DeleteAlso it would be embarrassing to local politicians like Rich Gordon and Jim Fox, as well as local judges, social workers and prominent area physicians who long ago had established associations with the molester.
They now find themselves in the same position that many of the Penn State officials found themselves in... Trying to decide between protecting reputation and protecting children, and choosing poorly.
Who has to do what to get a change of venue?
ReplyDeleteAt this point, the victims of Ayres need MORE than a change of venue. In a change of venue, the same DA tries the case but in a different geographic territory.
ReplyDeleteThe victims of Ayres have had enough: They need the Justice Department to take over the case from the San Mateo DA. Period. San Mateo County DA's office hired Ayres over the years; they fear lawsuits from the victims in juvenile hall who were raped by Ayres.
This case needs to be amputated from the corrupt San Mateo County and taken over by the Justice Department.
Very astute comment from a reader over at the San Francisco Chronicle:
ReplyDeleteThe San Mateo county prosecutor's office has a vested interest in losing this case. They and the Judicial branch in SM County sent thousands of his victims to him as he was the county contracted provider for juvenile psyche evals.
He used abuse of this power to intimidate many of his victims into silence as he had the power to decide if they got to go home or to a group home or jail.
If the man is convicted it will increase the financial penalty the County must pay in the civil cases. There is some evidence the County was well aware of his behavior for years before he retired. There are many cases, reports of his abuse that are outside the criminal statute prior to 1990.
nevermindme 10:33 AM on July 27, 2012
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/articleComments/Psychiatrist-found-competent-for-retrial-3734943.php