Is Ayres San Mateo's Vinnie Gigante?

Remember Mafia guy Vincent Gigante, who came to court in New York City in his bathrobe and slippers? Well, we think San Mateo's got its own Vinnie Gigante in the corpulent form of William Ayres.

We've heard from others that Ayres has been known to lack decorum and be inappropriate with his peers in social settings. But you'd think that when his future was on the line he'd attempt to rein himself in the courthouse. But no.

His behavior in the courtroom halls and outside the courthouse make us think he's really gone loopy. Many times during the trial, Ayres simply could not control himself. He had no respect for anyone's boundaries.

Some examples:

Yesterday the juror who was dismissed was sitting outside the courthouse with a group of people that included the mother of victim Greg H and Victoria Balfour when Ayres passed by with his walker ( the one he didn't need when he walked up the aisles at the opera house in San Francisco a few weeks ago. )All of a sudden Ayres started waving madly and goofily at the dismissed juror, Greg H's mom and Balfour. When no one responded, he just stood there gripping his walker, and staring and smiling at the group in a demonic way.

Then there's his wife Solveig, who also waves and smiles and says hello to mothers of in-statute victims.

Solveig actually walked up to a Bay Area news reporter and told her to find out how much the County was spending on the trial. The reporter said she would find out if Solveig would tell her how much Ayres was spending on the trial. Solveig just slunk off.

We also think it's worth repeating here that Ayres walked up to a mother of a victim in the hall and said, "Isn't it a lovely day?" When she said, "Not after what you did to my son," Ayres countered with"Oh, it isn't a lovely day?"

There was that incident when Ayres walked by child psychiatrist and supporter of the victims Dr. David Schwartz in the hall and said to him,"Are you a Scientologist?" with that crazy smirk on his face.

-Then there was that time when victim Eric B was to testify. Ayres actually walked up to Eric and coyly asked him if he was a basketball player. It sounded like a come on line to us, and also an intimidation tactic. It also is evidence that Ayres has not lost his taste for dangerous situations in his old age.

They may be an educated couple who sit in the courtroom and read the New York Times and the New Yorker - but when they're around victims and their families and their supporters, Solveig and Ayres have behaved like wilful children. Their juvenile and out of control behavior is so at odds with the setting and their age and their backgrounds, we can only think that they must be unraveling.

We often wondered whether any of their friends advised them about their inappropriate behavior and their lack of respect for boundaries. Or are their pals doormats who would never speak up ? Did Weinberg at any time caution his client to behave and control himself? Perhaps he did try and Ayres - the consummate control freak- would just not listen.

A medical colleague of Ayres desribed him as going mad - like King Lear. Perhaps, but we think much of it is just an act. And a supremely selfish one.