Robin Sax actually has some prior experience with the Ayres case, as she wrote an article in the Huffington Post about Balfour being barred from access to the courtroom in the first criminal trial. For her efforts, DA Wagstaffe contacted Prosecutor Sax's boss to try to get her disciplined for speaking out about the matter.
Here is an audio clip of the interview, It's approximately 10 minutes long.
NOTE: The audio player does not work on all browsers -- Try Google's Chrome browser if your browser isn't working, or download the file directly.
So let me get this straight: Robin Sax, a prosecutor and legal commentator on the Today Show, writes an OPINION piece about the prosecutor, Melissa Mckowan in the Ayres case in 2009.
ReplyDeleteSan Mateo DA Steve Wagstaffe - who once let one of his own prosecutors write an opinion piece for a paper that was critical of Leland Yee's bill that would outlaw forcing women in domestic violence cases to testify- actually CALLS up then Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley about Sax's opinion piece and tries to get Sax into trouble for writing it.
DA Cooley must have thought Wagstaffe was nuts.
Wagstaffe's small-town, smalltime bullying tactics don't work in the big leagues.
Vote Wagstaffe out in the next election.
The question is: will Wagstaffe call up Robin Sax's boss at KABC in Los Angeles and try to get her into trouble for talking about how he tried to retaliate against her?
ReplyDeleteWhat a petty, vindictive, small-town idiot he is.
Posted over at the Atherton Almanac now, too: http://www.almanacnews.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=1&t=9170
ReplyDeleteWagstaffe has spent his career trying trying to control and manipulate the press so they won't question or criticize him. He only wants the press to say and report on what HE WANTS.
ReplyDeleteThis shows what a crybaby he is when he doesn't get his own way and can't control the press.
It's clear he's never heard of the First Amendment.
The California Department of Corrections now lists Ayres as an inmate
ReplyDeleteHe is prisoner # AR2048 and is at San Quentin.
In June 2009, a San Mateo resident sent DA Steve Wagstaffe a copy of Robin Sax's Huffington Post story about Mckowan barring Balfour from the courtroom and then told him she wouldn't be voting for him in the next election.
ReplyDeleteHere's a small portion of Wagstaffe's very lengthy and VERY defensive response to the San Mateo citizen about Robin Sax from June 27, 2009:
"Finally, I have read the words written by Los Angeles prosecutor Robin Sax. I do not know and have not heard of this attorney before, but it is my view she has a very basic misunderstanding of the legal and ethical boundaries of the role of a prosecutor in court. I have been a prosecutor for 32 years and a member of the Board of Directors of the California District Attorney's Association; District Attorney James Fox has been a prosecutor for 39 years and the President of both the California District Attorney's Association and the National District Attorney's Association. We are both amazed at the statements of Ms. Sax. Beyond that, I will not speak ill of her."
Wagstaffe says he won't speak ill of Sax and then proceeds to trash her. What a misogynist. And for the record, while he says he's never heard of Sax, a lot more people have heard of Sax around the country than they've heard of Wagstaffe. Sax is a legal analyst on the Today Show. Is Wagstaffe?
Small town and small time DA that Wagstaffe is, he didn't realize that he had left a paper trial with his emails to various citizens that tell contradictory stories about his actions.
ReplyDeleteLet the games begin.
Atherton resident Jon Buckheit at San Mateo Board of Supervisors' meeting June 4, 2013 talking to the Supervisors about a series of defamatory emails the Ayres prosecutor wrote about Ms. Balfour to victims and parents AFTER she was disciplined by the California Bar:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESTt6B0EvZI
Another big screwup by prosecutor Mckowan:
ReplyDeleteToday's Daily Journal:
Man Accused of touching minors previously avoided sex offender registration in 2010
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2013-10-08/man-accused-of-touching-minors-previously-avoided-sex-offender-registration-in-2010/1776425111291.html
McKowan said in 2011 that Brickman did not pose a risk to the general public by not registering as an offender.
This is a guy whose whole problem was conduct in the hospital. “Nothing ever happened in the street,” McKowan said at the time.
However, now authorities say something did happen in public.
And:
The new case shows that prosecutors aren’t prophets by any stretch and “a reminder that someone in a structured, institutional setting on medication is one thing but it’s no guarantee that when they release people they won’t go off their meds,” Wagstaffe said.
****
If according to Wagstaffe, "prosecutors aren't prophets" then why is he permitting one of his prosecutors to make such nutty prognostications with no basis in fact?
From SM Daily Journal, February 3, 2011: Hospital Attacker No Longer Registered Sex Offender
ReplyDeletehttp://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2011-02-03/hospital-attacker-no-longer-registered-sex-offender/151787.html
Excerpt:
The general public need not worry about the lack of registration because even if he ever merits release it means he has somehow recovered, she said.
"This is a guy whose whole problem was conduct in the hospital. Nothing every happened in the street,” McKowan said.
--
This is very, very troubling.
1) In the article today,Wagstaffe completely contradicts Mckowan's bizarre prognostication in 2011 that Daniel Brickman wouldn't molest people out in the streets.
2) Wagstaffe's statements are unapologetic and cavalier. He said, "At least we kept him in a facility for some time."
I am sure the screwups by the DA's office are much worse than what is being reported. And now because of this, a 7 year old boy; a 4 year old girl and a 16 year old girl were all molested. But Wagstaffe doesn't seem to care.
This was just posted over at the Atherton Almanac forum:
ReplyDelete"Bar Warns Wagstaffe To Cut Out the Misconduct"
http://www.almanacnews.com/square/2013/10/16/bar-warns-wagstaffe-to-cut-out-the-misconduct
The Almanac has been forwarded documentary evidence establishing that San Mateo D.A. Steve Wagstaffe received a LETTER OF WARNING from the California State Bar in 2010.
As in YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
The Bar disciplined Wagstaffe with this warning based on a complaint it received about prosecutorial misconduct.
This revelation raises some important questions:
1. Why hasn't Wagstaffe disclosed to the public that he received such an extraordinary disciplinary warning? I have to believe the public has a right to know.
2. When is the Bar going to move from warnings to actual disbarment? Just how many warnings and complaints have to be issued?
3. Are the resident taxpayers Wagstaffe prosecutes for misconduct entitled to a warning also? Hardly. Like our congress exempting itself from ObamaCare, apparently Wagstaffe fancies himself as above the law.
Comments (4)
Posted by Menlo Voter, a resident of Menlo Park: other
19 minutes ago
Is this true Alamanac? If so, please print/post it. The citizens of this county deserve to hear what a corrupt man we have in the most powerfull law enforcement position in the county.
If true, it doesn't surprise me in the least.
Report Objectionable Content
Posted by Lurker, a resident of another community
16 minutes ago
The Bar needs to be advised ASAP that Wagstaffe lied to KCBS on October 8, 2013 when he said that his office sends out advance notice to crime victims about Marsy's Law. He neglected to mention that the victims of Dr. Ayres and their families sent numerous complaints to the San Mateo Board of Supervisors in April of this year about violations of Marsy's Law by prosecutor Mckowan on that case and that Mckowan has not bothered to contact an in-statute Ayres victim or his mother since July 2009 - a complete violation of Marsy's Law. The Board of Supervisors confronted Wagstaffe about the prosecutor's violation in a closed meeting.
Wagstaffe's false statements to KCBS: Web Link
Report Objectionable Content
Posted by Lurker, a resident of another community
14 minutes ago
To Menlo Voter:
Yes, it's true. A copy of the official letter from the California Bar about Wagstaffe has been sent to the Almanac reporters as of today.
Report Objectionable Content
Posted by Lurker, a resident of another community
5 minutes ago
Anyone else experience Wagstaffe lying to the press about their case? If so, we would like to hear from you here.
A victim of Dr. William Ayres who had submitted a complaint to the California Bar concerning misconduct by the prosecutor on the Ayres case, Melissa Mckowan, received a reply today stating that his "complaint expresses legitimate concerns." However, the Bar told him that the matters he complained about were "within the prosecutorial discretion of the District Attorney."
ReplyDeleteThis victim has already tried to complain to Wagstaffe about Mckowan.
He never received a response.
Not surprising- in a 2010 molestation case Wagstaffe actually made a series of false statements to the press in an effort to cover for Mckowan. Wagstaffe never responded to the family who complained in that case, either.
In 2010, a California inmate complained that that San Mateo DA Wagstaffe had lied about the facts of his case to the press.
ReplyDeleteThe Bar agreed with the inmate. The Bar stated in a letter to the inmate that they were going to send a "warning letter" to Wagstaffe and that it would be "kept in our file and may be taken under consideration in the event the State Bar receives additional complaints against Wagstaffe."
Since then, the Bar has indeed received numerous complaints about Wagstaffe pertaining to false statements he has made in cases.
If you have any evidence of Wagstaffe lying to either yourself or to the press, you need to add to the evergrowing file the Bar has on Wagstaffe.
Complaint form here:
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/Regulation/2012-09_ComplaintForm-Instructions.pdf
Mail to (not fax):
Office of the Chief Trial Counsel/Intake
The State Bar of California
1149 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, California 90015-2299