Carol Abrams and Barbara Ross posted the following letter on sfexaminer.com:
"Let healing process begin"
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. It seems appropriate to remind the community that it was two long years ago, in April 2007, that William Hamilton Ayres, a formerly licensed child psychiatrist, was arrested and charged with molesting male children sent to him for therapy.
He has been out on bail, living in the community, since that time. His attorney, Doren Weinberg, of the Phil Spector trial, has repeatedly delayed Ayres’ criminal trial.
It is known that it takes great courage for male victims of child sexual abuse to speak out. To date, there have been at least 40 men who have reported abuse by Ayres. It is also known that the effects on victims last a lifetime, and delaying the trial this long means the men cannot even begin to heal.
– Carol Abrams (Millbrae) and Barbara Ross (San Mateo), Mothers of Victims
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A deeply felt thanks goes out to Carol Abrams and Barbara Ross who have the strength of will to continue to push this into the public's consciousness, when the public seems to want to continue to ignore this "uncomfortable" topic. We all need the unsung heroes that speak out when others can't or are afraid to...
I would like to say that with May 11, 2009 just around the corner, if everything goes as planned, the trial of the molester will begin.
ReplyDeleteDeep Sounding, as you recall I took such offense when you wished the molestor dead.
Reason, I am not saying that if he gets convicted it will solve all the victims problems.
In my case I was denined justice completely. If the law had validated that I was the victim of a crime I feel that some of the anger and frustration I feel would have been less than it currently is.
For this reason, it should give everyone hope that as the perp sits in the chair with the label "defendant" in front of him everybody who was a victim or involved in the case can be thankful that his life will never be the same either.
It will never make up for what happened, but it is better than nothing.
A long time ago a Chief of Police told me as I was heading off to jury duty....if he is in the chair he did it.
I agree that to some May 11 seems like a long time coming, but it is just around the corner....hang in there.
"A long time ago a Chief of Police told me as I was heading off to jury duty....if he is in the chair he did it."
ReplyDeleteIf that Chief of Police or any police officer or court officer said what you claimed the Chief said, that is unprofessional and was tampering with the jury pool. You said you were "heading off to jury duty." That would have to be reported to the judge and would likely disqualify you from hearing the case.
That is not justice, it was an obstruction of justice and prevented a fair trial!
People need to be more careful what is said in here. That statement is analogous to saying in line while going through airport security that there is probably a bomb on the plane!
Lastly, if you don't neutralize the statements in this forum, you just may give the defense ammunition to delay the trial further. Besides the Spector trial takes precedence over the Ayres trial because Los Angeles got the trial dates set before the Ayres pretrial matters were settled so don't blame the attorney or Ayres!
I hope this case goes to trial, but this case may not be proven so be prepared for any result including appeal reults - Remember the Lay/Enron case. He was found guilty, but died while on appeal and the conviction does not stand.
Jack, it doesn't matter what the Chief said along time ago. For twenty years the jury notice came to my house and for twenty years I went down to the courthouse in Redwood City, for 1/2 the time I just sat in the basement for eight hours and was never even sent to a room. The other 1/2 they knew I had daily contact with police and I was dismissed. I have never once sat on a jury.
ReplyDeleteSo I think there is no such thing as jury tampering unless you have already been "seated on the jury".
One of my favorite movies was "Runaway Jury" with Gene Hackman.
Was there jury tampering with OJ Simpson in either case?
Couldn't tell you anything about real jury duty because I don't pass question number one......
Besides they hold fake "mock jury hearings" - they ask what could the defendant do to look more credible? Get a hair cut? Dress better etc.
Isn't that defendant tampering? It's not illegal.
Do you think the defendant doesn't have a say in who potentially would make the best juror for his/or her case?
Do you want a MADD Mom on your jury when you were arrested for a DUI...no, so they will get kicked off. They profile the jury down to every possible religious reason too......
So really Jack, I have no idea what you are talking about.
Blogs are opinions. Certainly Jack Kirkpatrick can't discount that guest commentators have said Ayres did what he is accused of. Does Jack think the case would be thrown out because of people using blogs to express opinions?
ReplyDeleteI believe the case is based on circumstantial evidence and witness testimony.
If Ayres wanted a change of venue he would have asked for it long ago.
Let us not forget Ayres lives next to his old office.
I went to jury duty several times and once an asian lady did not want to serve on the jury. First she told Judge Forcum she did not speak English, then he asked her 20questions, she answered every one in perfect English. When that didn't get her removed she stood up and pointed her finger at the defendant and said "he just looks guilty", well you can imagine that she was dismissed. The whole room heard it all, the potential jurors, the judge and both attorneys. She walked out and the proceedings went on. Is that jury tampering? Stating such a thing in court where the pool of actual jurors hear that. The trial wasn't cancelled or declared a mistrial.
Then last time I went a lady in the room plotted to get out, she said she just doesn't have time, she had a lasagna in the oven for dinner and she decided to say she had a medical problem and had memory loss.
Some jurors show up dressed in the worst garb, with a 5 o'clock shadow hoping that if they look bad they will get kicked off.
It is very difficult to find persons willing to take on a trial for along period of time and the harship issue comes up. Loss of pay, child care, etc.
They will have these jurors for the Ayres case already lined up as of today. They probably have been asked to fill out a pre-questionaire. Cases like this usually have that.
This case is all over the internet and it was from the first day it broke out. National headlines.
Jack I totally disagree with you and your opinions that such comments could get the case dismissed.
A trial is always a gamble. It just is.
If Ayres wants to gamble the trial will go forward and what people say on this blog will have no impact.
If this blog had any defame why didn't Ayres file a supeona to get it removed? A chiroprator sued a "Yelper" for less than what is wrtten here. Something about billing fraud.
I guess because if he sued this blog he would also have to sue Glenn Beck and the entire internet, media, etc. Even some guy who made bad jokes about Ayres and comical stuff that I saw.
It would be like putting a bucket of water on an entire forest fire! You can't put the fire out with 8 oz. of water.
So Jack, I think you are wrong.
Thanks to Carol and Barbara for coming forward. Our thoughts are with their sons. Let's hope they get justice.
ReplyDeleteDo the readers of this blog want national coverage of the Dr. Ayres trial?
ReplyDeleteIf so, write to Glenn Beck, who did a show on the arrest in 2007, and ask him to cover the trial
Glenn Beck: me@glennbeck.com
Beck's producer: stu@glennbeck.com
Try Bill O'Reilly at Fox News, who has done many shows on child molesters:
oreilly@foxnews.com
Also, the executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller, is a homegrown San Mateo boy and an alum of Junipero Serra High School. Write to him and urge him to have his paper to do stories.
executive-editor@nytimes.com
It might not be a bad idea to alert these guys that victims have been coming forward for decades - to the California Medical Board, to Childrens Services, to the police, to Dr. Ayres' partners, to pediatricians and that their complaints were ignored, swept under the rug or deemed unfounded. Why didn't doctors who strongly suspected Dr. Ayres was molesting boys report him?
You might also want to ask Beck, O'Reilly and Keller: Why did it take a complete outsider from New York City to alert San Mateo that there was a predator in their midst? Why did the community ignore the complaints for so long?
Dr. Ayres was arrested on April 5, 2007, on the day before Good Friday. He spent Easter weekend in jail. We are praying that he spends the rest of his Easters in state prison for the harm he has done to too many boys.
ReplyDelete