Not mentioned in the Weekend Wrap:

Below this post is the Weekend Wrap for the first week of the trial. Please make sure to read it if you haven't yet. There was one thing not covered in the Wrap, and we will cover that in this post:

Not mentioned in the weeked wrap court day summary is an event that happened on Thursday the 4th. The reporter who first got this case underway, and who pushed for prosecution of ayres, was asked to leave the courtroom. Victoria Balfour, (A memeber of the press) was told that she MAY be called by Weinberg as a witness, but apparently no foundation was provided. And as she MAY be called, she can't be present in the courtroom until final arguements. Many of us think that this is just a trick Weinberg is using to get back at Balfour.

There are further questions about why the DA / prosecutor didn't do more to prevent this from happening. I think there may be some ambivalence in the DA's office about Balfour, and I hope they're not losing sight of (what I HOPE is ) our common goal here: ayres is guilty of molesting children, and he needs to finally be jailed for it. Everone that's helping in that goal is on OUR side, and we all need to act that way.

There are some important freedom of speech issues here, especially as they relate to the removal of a memeber of the press from a courtroom, during public session. I wonder who else is going to get thrown out on the whim of the defense?

I was going to try to get into this but frankly have been having trouble figuring out how to say what I want to say, and the stress that I'm feeling about ayres is more than a bit crushing right now, and I'm afraid I'm not feeling at all outspoken. Fortunately, I'm the benefit of a bailout:

A friend of ours, "The Patient Advocate" over at the "Mills-Peninsula Health Services Lawsuit Watch" blog DID publish an outstanding article on this very topic! I'm going to reprint just a couple of teaser quotes below, but it would be best if you just go over there and read it. It's really quite good. Thank you Patient Advocate!

"Those close to the case believe that the District Attorney and Weinberg himself want Victoria Balfour, the very person who nearly handed the case to our District Attorney's office, to be out on the sidelines."

"Seems to me there is some dirty pool going on in our little town when the "victim and patient advocate" who has worked for seven years on this case, was never on the witness list, flew in from New York, was then spotted by Ayres and his defense attorney was banished from attending the trial......... Come on Jim P. Fox, get your staff together and figure this one out! "

"Doron Weinberg....uhm maybe, might, be just a tad upset coming off a losing case where his client was sent to prison (19 to life) that he will banish a journalist from the court proceedings! "

-Taken from the "Mills-Peninsula
Health Services Lawsuit Watch" blog.

We'll track this one too, as the case develops.

Thursday's court update and impressions below this post.