After so many years of pushing for ayres to be prosecuted for child molestation, where is Victoria Balfour, and why have we not seen her articles on the trial in the paper? Balfour, who is on assignment for a California newspaper, has been barred from the courtroom.
Who exactly is responsible for this barring is a bit muddy:
Ostensibly, Doron Weinberg, attorney for the defense, has made overtures that he will call Balfour as a witness. From behaviors observed in the courtroom however, it appears that the prosecutor, Melissa McKowan is possibly more opposed than Weinberg to Balfour’s presence during the trial.
Unfortunately, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, Balfour has not been summonsed, and the witness list is now sealed, so it would be impossible for any member of the voting San Mateo County public to verify that Balfour is indeed to be a witness. Barring any proof that Balfour will be a witness, it’s troubling that a member of the press would be barred from an otherwise public trial.
We would have hoped that James Fox, DA, or his deputy, Steve Wagstaff would have stepped in by now to rectify, or at the very least clarify to the voting San Mateo County public Balfour’s current status as a member of the press, and public.
There are victims and parents out there who are, for various reasons (Work, pain involved in being in the courtroom near this monster, etc…) can not be in the courtroom every day during this very important and painful trial, and yet have the desperate need for daily progress updates. Given the fact that the press in general is reporting only on the most scandalous of the trial highlights, WE need someone in that courtroom to provide attentive, professional, detailed daily updates. Balfour can do this for us, as well as complete her assignment for the newspaper she is representing.
But only if she’s in the courtroom.
I would urge everyone to contact Steve Wagstaffe and remind him that as a registered voter in San Mateo County this may be a deciding factor in how you cast your vote in the next election.
ReplyDeleteWe already know from posts at the Daily Journal the reason the pedophile books are not allowed as evidence is that the DA's office did not properly write a search warrant to cover the books!
This issue with Victoria Balfour is another example of how incompetent our elected officials are at the DA's office.
Sorry, but that is my opinion.
Well written, Deep Sounding. Is anyone running the shop at the DA's office? Sounds like a case of very bad management at the top.
ReplyDeleteI could only agree that the police AND the DA's office seem to be dropping the ball all over the place with this case. The exclusion of a member of the press on assignment, Victoria Balfour, not only seems another "black eye" for them, but a trampling of the 1st Amendment's rights! As voters, we ALL should be making our voices heard, loud and clear! Just who should be the NEXT D.A. ?? Someone who does a better job at managing the courts than this one????
ReplyDeleteI really think the Jan Van Eyck photo of Hell from "The Last Judgment" is perfect.
ReplyDeleteYea, and Ayres face is a reverse image but he still looks as creepy as ever.....if that photo doesn't speak volumes to the evil eye.
ReplyDeleteThat face sent the juror running to her spiritual advisor!
With that one squinty eye, he looks like a very evil Popeye.
ReplyDeleteWeird about that image. All I did was flip it.. totally creepier than the actual creepyness.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Mckowan has forgotten that if it weren't for Balfour, she would not be trying the case at all. Some courtroom observers have remarked that it was McKowan herself who alerted Weinberg to Balfour's presence in the courtroom. Bizarre!
ReplyDeleteSteve Wagstaffe seems like an incredibly weak manager. This would be the time for someone to run against him next year.
ReplyDeleteWeinberg didn't even know what Balfour looked like or that she was in the courtroom. It was McKowan who told him. It makes many courtroom observers nervous that she colluded with him on this. They are also uncomfortable with her flirtatious, touchy-touchy behavior with Weinberg.
ReplyDeleteOne wishes that she acted like the estimable and very fine LA prosecutor Alan Jackson in the Phil Spector case, who acted like Weinberg's sworn enemy.
San Mateo Daily Journal Community Forum has just deleted the entire blog.
ReplyDeleteDr. William Ayres arrested. over 30,000 views as of this am. GONE
Michael G. Stogner
You have to wonder about motives of an ADA who would collude with Weinberg to get Balfour out of the courtroom.
ReplyDeleteAnd, how competent is she? I'm wondering now if she will throw the case.
I want my attorney to be a shark, not friends with the other side. Chummy, chummy, is really going to leave a bad view of McKowan with the victims and families, save your golf stories for your own time. Equal admiration does not have to be expressed in the courtroom. I preferred how Marsha Clark was and Chris Darden during the OJ trial. Not friends with the opposing side.
ReplyDeleteI think Wagstaffe knows exactly what his prosecutor is doing, and is just letting her run wild. For a prosecutor to be consistently hostile to a person who gave five years of her life for this case is not just bad form, it is totally bizarre, inappropriate and completely unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster who said that there's weak management at the DA's office
I hope someone can let us know if she gets back in the court room today.........
ReplyDeleteI just heard that Doron Weinberg handed Balfour the official supoena and that at the current time she is permitted to hear opening statements. But will be banned from the rest of the trial until her tesimony is given, if in fact that happens.
ReplyDeleteFolks as you know opening statements began in the William Hamilton Ayres trial this morning. Victoria Balfour the journalist who researched and worked on the case filed a motion via her attorney to attend the public trial as a member of the press. However, after an apparent meeting in Judge Freeman’s court chambers, Ayres attorney (Doron Weinberg) served Victoria Balfour with an official subpoena!
ReplyDeleteThe details are sketchy as to the dates of the subpoena at this time. Risky at best Victoria Balfour has not been deposed, will she take the 5th?
As far as we know Victoria is attending the opening statements at this very moment. When in the history of San Mateo has our local newspaper the San Mateo Daily Journal shut down its forum for comments due to this highly charged case?
Members of the press and media are present for today's opening statements according to attendees of today's gala.
First, no pedophile material, no journalist........uhm....
Good video from ABC news, show Victoria Balfour at the end.
ReplyDeleteAyres look like he is croaking!
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6880004
I'm closing comments on this thread. No problems with content.. just want to make it easier to manage; feel free to continue discussion on the more recent blog entries.
ReplyDelete