[Original post: 04/05/10 11:20am][Latest Updates: 03/16/2023]
On April 5th, 2007, the San Mateo Police showed up at the house of the former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (an organization which is obviously a complete sham) william hamilton ayres, with a warrant for his arrest and dragged him out in handcuffs. The charges relate to his molestation of many young boys over the course of his career, in which he alleges to have been a psychiatrist. He has been accused of using that practice to gain easy access to young boys from both his private practice, and from the juvenile justice system. ayres was contracted to evaluate young children sent to him by judges in the juvenile system: ayres was the LOW BIDDER on these contracts according to one of the judges in the juvenile system, ensuring the coward a steady stream of boys who were not likely to be believed if they DID ever decide to report, even knowing the severe (and often frightening) legal and peer problems that reporting could cause them.
In an article by John Coté of the San Francisco Chronicle, Coté says that the arrest was the culmination of four years of investigation. (Please read the arrest details, and background (pdf), if you haven't seen them lately.) Prior to his arrest, ayres settled out of court in a civil lawsuit (moderately high six figure settlement.) This is a significant settlement, and should serve to indicate to most reasonable people that this was not a "nuisance" settlement, even though ayres did not admit guilt outright.
The 2002 criminal complaints which started the investigations did not result in a criminal trial, due to California's abysmal statute of limitations laws for child sexual abuse. It is a testament to that victim and a few other victims who agreed to provide corroborating testimony that they had the strength of will to pursue a potentially brutalizing civil suit. The out-of-court settlement, while likely not anywhere near enough to "fix" the damage done, was substantial enough to make it VERY clear that even though ayres did not admit guilt, he wasn't going to be able to successfully defend himself. That victim achieved a great victory for all of us, and he is owed a great debt of gratitude!
The reason that the criminal investigations got started in the first place was due to the interest and persistence of investigative reporter Victoria Balfour, who was pretty pissed-off when she found out that a co-worker had been molested, and that the molester was still practicing "psychiatry." (Again, read the "background" link above if you're new to this case.)
The current criminal case was tried in June/July of 2009, and was the result of a police investigation, in which the police retrieved recent (in-statue) patient records and contacted former patients to ask what had taken place. Ultimately they found some victims who were in statute and willing to testify. Other victims, hearing of the investigation, voluntarily came forward, and the case was brought to trial. During the trial, the several IN-STATUTE victims testified that ayres molested them in the guise of performing "medical examinations" and several more out-of-statute victims also testified about the same kinds of experiences to show ayres' patterns of behavior, intent, and propensity to molest.
Before reaching the June 2009 trial date, there were four other trial dates set and missed (the earliest was March 10, 2008) due to a variety of reasons, including alleged health issues, constitutionality of the arrest warrant, judges who didn't like the attorney, poor planning on the part of the defense attorney, etc...
During the trial, defense attorney Doron Weinberg and ayres referred several times to his "retirement" from practice. In actuality, however, ayres also stated that he was planning continue "practicing" in "volunteering" at some kind of facility (which he couldn't remember the name of) with a group of volunteer pediatricians and other doctors. Fortunately for those "patients" ayres' medical license was yanked by the State of California.
Among the evidence NOT allowed by the judge into the trial, which was found at the time that the police executed the warrant to retrieve ayres' patient records: Two books depicting very young boys in arguably sexual poses, and in various states of undress. Also there was a manila envelope that was said to contain additional documents, the nature of which was not disclosed, but rumors that made the rounds from indicated that the material in the envelope was quite creepy and potentially more damaging to ayres than the books were. The books both contained photos by an "Art" photographer named Will McBride, whose work is widely lauded by pedophiles all over the internet. The books are titled "The Sex Book" (Which Amazon has tagged with keywords like: "boys coming of age", "boys", "gay themed", "beautiful boy", "boy movie", and "child abuse,") and the second book was "Coming of Age" and seems to not even bother with the educational slant that "The Sex Book" tries to impart.
Google images provides lots of prints from the books if you want to see what ayres liked to look at while he wasn't "practicing medicine." If you go to http://google.com/images and search for "coming of age" and "will mcbride" and turn off SafeSearch, you'll see lots and lots and lots of them. I'm not sure if it's even legal for you to view them, but unfortunately, I don't think they're considered "overt" enough to be called incriminating in and of themselves. (After all, you can buy them from "book collectors" through Amazon.)
The trial ended in a hung jury, largely due to one hold-out juror. (That juror appears to have been a recently graduated unemployed lawyer, and was apparently adamantly unsympathetic to the victims, and stated early in deliberations that she'd never vote to convict. I hope she has a very busy career, and doesn't have time to ruin the lives of any of her own children.) Mistrial was declared on July 27, 2009.
Weinberg Fired, Jonathan McDougall Hired:
The case was slated to be re-tried, with ayres' newly hired attorney Jonathan McDougall, and missed the first scheduled trial date (April 12, 2010) due to ayres' attorney filing a claim in the 11th hour that ayres is not competent to assist in his own defense. The court appointed two doctors to evaluate ayres' competence. On April 28th, 2010, we were slated to see the results of ayres' competency evaluations, but as predicted, given the new attorney's recent track record, that date too slipped by as yet another in the long string of missed dates. Read detail here and here for the two most significant problems with the evaluation.
The doctors finally delivered their reports on June 10th, 2010. Both doctors declared that ayres is competent to stand trial on molestation charges. Jonathan McDougall then requested, and was granted, a jury trial to determine competence. McDougall stated that he'd have about four witnesses, and it should take 5 to 10 days. The trial date was set for October 4th, 2010 at 9:00am PST. As this date was in conflict with the start date for the second of the new civil lawsuits (brief info below) against ayres for molestation, four of the five civil trial dates were vacated.
On September 24th, 2010, McDougall showed up in court for a hearing regarding his desire to delay ayres' October 4th 2010 competency trial. The soft-on-crime San Mateo County judge granted the delay stating (as always) that this would be the LAST delay. The date for the Competency Trial was set for January 10, 2011. On January 10, 2011, at the eleventh hour, one of the two doctors, Dr. Jatinder Singh changed her mind and reported that ayres is not competent. Therefore Judge John Grandsaert, who will preside over the competency trial, asked for a third report, and delayed the competency trial until February 18th, 2011, at which point the new report would be presented, and a new trial date set.
On February 18th, 2011 The competency report was not ready, and the new deadline was set for Friday, March 4, 2011. Reasons for the delay were not totally clear, but based on snippets of conversation overheard, the delays centered around the doctor needing more time for the report, and possibly schedule confilicts with McDougall's Robert Youshock trial.
On March 4th, 2011 The third doctor's tie-breaker report indicated that ayres is COMPETENT as was expected, due to comments overheard during the hearing on February 18th, 2011. A hearing was scheduled for Friday March 11th to set a date for [this year's planned] Competency Trial.
On March 11th, 2011 a new Competency to Stand Trial trial was set for ayres. The trial was scheduled to start June 6th, 2011, but ayres' attorney McDougall indicated that at least one of his witnesses would not available to testify until the June 13th.
On June 6th, 2011, the Competency Trial got underway - a few hours late, but it did start. It ended in mistrial with a final vote of 8 - 4 with jurors predominantly believing that ayres is not competent. A competency re-trial is scheduled for August 22, 2011. There was a status conference on June 29th, 2011 to discuss next steps, and based on comments in and out of court, it seems that there is a great deal of question about what will happen next. It seems that criminal re-trial, and even what kind of treatment if ayres is found incompetent are all up in the air at this point. During the June 29th status conference, the attorneys met VERY briefly in judges chambers, and then it was over with, with no public discussion.
On July 26th there was a "Status Conference" that had been scheduled within the last 24 to 48 hours. DA office staff reported that this was to make sure things were still on track for the re-trial. On August 1, 2011 there was another status conference, held in judge's chambers. The August 22 competency re-trial date still stood.
After charges were filed in 2002, Juvenile Court Supervising Judge Marta Diaz was still referring juvenile court cases (potential victims) to ayres as late as January 2003, according to the articles above. ayres has very strong political ties with judges as well as local politicians, such as District Attorney Jim Fox and local Supervisor Richard Gordon. He was lauded by the county of San Mateo and by peers for his “contributions” as a preeminent practitioner in his field, and specifically as a “child and adolescent psychiatrist.”
In January of 2002, he was nominated by San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon for a "Lifetime Achievement Award" and the resolution was passed by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in spite of the fact that several reports had already been filed (and dismissed without investigation) with various county agencies.
(Board Members who approved the nomination unanimously: Mark Church, Richard S. Gordon, Jerry Hill, Rose Jacobs Gibson, Michael D. Nevin; County Manager: John Maltbie; County Counsel: Tom Casey) This nomination was specifically related to his "service on the Children and Families First Commission, and his tireless efforts to improve the lives of children and adolescents." Other Children and Families First Commission members serving with ayres at the time were: Maureen Borland, Patricia Bresee (who has supported the victims publicly), Jim Fox (yes... that's San Mateo County District Attorney Jim Fox) Floyd Gonella, Richard Gordon, Christine Kennedy, Amy Liew, and Margaret Taylor.
It is unlikely that DA Fox is still standing behind ayres, but the general malaise about this case that seems to pervade the San Mateo County DA's office seems to indicate that while publicly, no support is given to ayres, everyone is hoping that ayres wins so that the threat of county culpability goes away.
Rich Gordon's position is unknown to me at this time, although questions asking him to clarify his position were posted on his facebook page in early April 2010, and as of May 4th, 2010, the comments have been deleted with no response, and I was blocked from posting on his facebook page. (Always best policy to dodge any real questions, when you're in a position of responsibility.) As of 6/10/2011 I am no longer blocked from his facebook page, and I posted another query. I don't think he actually looks at facebook though. I'll let you know when I'm banned again. I also sent him an email on 5/13/2011 in response to his request for input from his constituents. I have not even received a courtesy "Thank you for your input" response from his staff, and as of June 29, 2011 I still see no response to my second post on facebook. As of 7/26/2011, my second post to Gordon's facebook page was gone; to date, no response to my input has been received. On 7/29/2011, I posted a third post to Gordon's facebook page, and it was deleted within minutes. Looks like Gordon is Assemblyman In Absentia at least as far as input from constituents is concerned.
Judge Marta ("I don't care. I know it's all bullshit") Diaz gives the public impression that she believes ayres is innocent of the charges.
It is also a fact that should ayres be found guilty, San Mateo County (and its power-players) will have a good deal of egg on their face, due to their long time support and due to the fact that several local agencies for some reason ignored or whitewashed earlier reports of ayres' abuses. There is no way to know if this embarrassment factor is something that is still helping ayres to avoid/delay prosecution, but it is very routine for child molesters to make these kinds of politically expedient relationships exactly so that they can abuse that trust when necessary.
To repeat: The animal used his position and his profession and his political connections to gain access to and to molest young males. The county could have stopped this. Because they failed repeatedly, more young children were damaged, quite probably irreparably in many cases.
In addition to his political ties, there are several "doctors" who support ayres, some publicly, such as Dr. Etta Bryant, MD, past president of Northern California ROCAP, and is practicing Adolescent and Pediatric Psychiatry, among other things.
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Bart Blinder, M.D. (CA license G 18291) : APA Assembly Representative 1990-Present
- Co-wrote Practice Guidelines for Alzheimer's and other Dementias.
Etta Bryant, M.D. (DEAD 03/02/2022) President Northern California ROCAP 1986-1988
- Co-wrote Practice Parameters for Sexually Abused Children (pdf) with wm. ayres.
Mel Blaustein, M.D. (CA license G 23057): President Northern California Psychiatric Soc. 1991-93
Harry Coren, M.D. (CA license G 9177): President, Northern California ROCAP 1994-1996
Tom Ciesla, M.D. (CA license G 9703): President of California Psychiatric Ass 2000-2002
Richard A Shadoan, M.D. (CA license G 21001) : President of California Psychiatric Assn., 1994-1996
Captane Thomson, M.D. (DEAD 07/30/2023):(CA license G 17091): President of California Psychiatric Assn., 1992-94
Lunching with the Child Molester:
On August 18, 2011, the above listed doctors Kimmich and Lurie were filmed by a private investigator AT LUNCH with ayres, along with ayres' wife Solveig. According to the investigator's report, among other things, the four had a good laugh about Ayres' efforts to skirt prosecution by claiming incompetence to defend himself: "Both men spoke about the effects of Alzheimer's and the unidentified man said that its only benefit was that "you can mention it in front of the lawyers 'case it's serving a purpose" which was greeted by laughter from all seated at the table." This information was provided to the prosecution and the court prior to the DA's stipulation that ayres is not competent to assist in his own defense. It was ignored.
Click here for details of the report and video clips of the four.
People need to be aware so that they can protect their own kids. It is a horrid mistake for the public to assume that government officials and professional medical associations are looking out for them, and that there is nothing to worry about, and people need to be reminded of this. The officials ONLY step in after it's painfully clear that they are no longer going to be able to sweep the dirt under the rug, and by then many lives have been ruined.
ayres even manged to insert himself into the process of defining his organization's guidelines for treating childhood victims of molestation, working as the chair of the Work Group on Quality Issues in writing a paper for the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry called “Practice Parameters for the Forensic Evaluation of Children and Adolescents Who May Have Been Physically or Sexually Abused” which is still considered to be an important guide in the practice, and was even used as a source for expert testimony in his own trial, by experts in his field. In the course of his testimony during his trial, it became clear that he tried very hard to insert the "necessity" for "medical examinations" into the practice parameters, but was met with opposition. What a slam dunk that would have been for a busy pedophile!
Currently, the search for older victims is well underway in places that ayres was "practicing" when he was younger, and perhaps even farther back than that.(Just look back in this blog for the last few months for plenty of details.)
Meanwhile, there are FIVE new civil suits against ayres for the exact same types of charges, brought by out-of-statute victims. Four of these civil cases were scheduled for trial in the fourth quarter of 2010, but the trial dates were vacated due to ayres' newly scheduled competency trial. It now appears that all of the cases are currently in a holding pattern, judges have ordered stays pending outcome of the civil trial in most of the cases.
As of April 3, 2012, the judge has told John Carcione, the attorney for three of the five plaintiffs that he should motion to lift the stay, so that those civil lawsuits may proceed. There is a case management hearing set for 5/15/2012 to set trial dates.
Ayres' Dementia Gambit - Status Updates:
There was a probate hearing April 25th, 2012. The hearing was to appoint Barbara Ayres, william ayres' daughter as conservator regarding management and application of his health care. Documents show that it is the intent of william ayres that he be placed in the LEAST restrictive care possible.
The probate hearing was held over until June 1, 2012, as Judge Foiles wanted to wait to see the results of the upcoming hearing regarding ayres' release.
Ahead of the criminal hearing, which was held over until May 3, 2012 According to news reports, ayres' children wrote letters to the judge about the difficult time ayres is having at Napa State, and whining about his constitutional rights being violated.
On May 3rd, 2012, The child molester's attorney delivered his motion to have ayres released from Napa State Hospital into outpatient or conservatorship oversight. He argued (confusingly) about the status and due dates of reports. The judge denied the motion, on the grounds that not all of the statute requirements had been met. The judged DID reset the due date for the second report from Napa State, saying that the lateness of the first report should not cause the second report due date to be moved. The first (90 day) report didn't have an assessment of ayres' status, as ayres has NOT been cooperating with the doctors at the hospital. In fact, according to the prosecution, the report stated that:
At the hearing on August 3rd, 2012, discussion first focused on the defense objections to the certification from Napa State Hospital doctors that ayres is competent. Although the reports themselves were sealed to prevent the public from having access to them until a later date, we learned that the content of the report reveals that ayres has been MALINGERING; faking his incompetence with the intent to avoid criminal retrial. We also learned that the staff (nurses, custodial staff, and transportation staff) have all reported ayres behavior to the medical staff, and that their observations are clearly integral to the assessment that while ayres has been busy pretending to be incapacitated in front of doctors, he is not able to keep up the front 24/7, and the staff are clear that ayres is faking.
Defense attorney McDougall contested the report and its competency finding, and that the doctors and/or staff at Napa misrepresented what McDougall himself has said. McDougall said that because of the misrepresentation, he would have to testify at the competency hearing that he was requesting.
Bail was also discussed, the judge indicated that he didn't think he was required by the applicable laws (California statute 1372) to set bail until the point that competency was accepted/approved by the judge. Since the defense was contesting the finding, the judge couldn't declare competency, and therefore the judge decided that ayres would remain locked up in county jail until competency was decided -- ayres was removed from Napa State under the same statute... If the Hospital finds the "patient" to be competent, they have 10 days to return the patient to the county for continuing proceedings.
The judge wanted to hear more information from the attorneys about bail, and so he set a follow-on hearing for August 8th, 2012.
On August 8, 2012, the judge reviewed submitted documents, denied bail until competency was decided, and set the "Competency Hearing" for October 1, 2012. Both the prosecutor and defense attorney said that they have pending court schedules at that time. The prosecutor said that she would very likely be able to move her schedule to meet the hearing requirements, but McDougall seemed skeptical that he'd be able to change his. The hearing is essentially a trial in front of Judge Grandsaert ONLY, there is no jury in this hearing. It's slated to last about seven court days.
On September 7, 2012, there was a procedural hearing, during which McDougall said that the thought that he might possibly be able to meet the October 1 competency hearing date, but this fell apart, and during a hearing on September 17, 2012, the competency hearing was delayed and is now slated to start on October 26, 2012. The child molester is to remain locked up in the county jail until the competency hearing is resolved. When the Napa State report was delivered and McDougall contested it, he was seeking ayres' release from custody and expected a competency hearing date in November 2012. Looks like he got half of what he wanted.
On October 26th, 2012 ayres' competency hearing went forward, and ultimately Judge Grandsaert decided that ayres is competent, and that his conduct while incarcerated at Napa State demonstrated that he was exaggerating (if not deliberately faking) his dementia symptoms. The hearing ended on October 31, 2012, and bail was raised to $900K.
On November 1, 2012 the ayres family posted bond, and ayres is back out in public.
February 2013 Civil Trial Updates: One of the four remaining civil cases against ayres relating to his molesting young boys was settled out of court. In another of the cases, ayres was granted a reprieve from deposition until after the criminal trial. The other two civil cases are still on hold.
The criminal re-trial is currently scheduled for March 11, 2013. BUT:
In a March 5, 2013 at 8:45am hearing, the defense moved to delay the re-trial for a myriad of ridiculous reasons. The trial was tentatively rescheduled for May 13, 2013, but due to the defense attorney's improperly filed paperwork, and the fact that ayres himself did not show up in court for the motion to delay (and the Judge's concern that ayres is a flight risk) parties must still show up on March 11, 2013.
On March 11, 2013 (the scheduled date for the start of re-trial) the rescheduled re-trial date of May 13, 2013 was confirmed. Within a week or so, motions were filed by defense to discuss further delay to the trial. A hearing is scheduled for April 18, 2013 to hear these motions. .
Meanwhile, in mid-march, we heard that ayres prosecutor McKowan has been privately sanctioned by the State Bar due to complaints against her.
As of early April, 2013, (SIX years after the arrest of ayres) there still seems to be no end in sight. Ear-to-the-ground rumblings seem to indicate that the prosecution feels that the court will not allow further delay, but we've heard these stories before.
May 2013 Civil Trial Updates: Of the three remaining known civil cases, one is scheduled for trial on September 3, 2013. The other two civil cases are still on hold, pending outcome of the criminal trial.
On May 9, 2013, there was a criminal pre-trial hearing to hear motions. Incredibly, defense attorney McDougall was claiming that ayres was "still" demented, and getting worse, but offered up absolutely no proof. Other motions were to recuse prosecutor McKowan, a demand for protective order to prevent the press from accessing more than limited information about the trial, and for all manner of accommodations to make the trial easier for the "incompetent" child molester. Additionally, the prosecution moved to re-introduce the nude boy books, but was shot down by the judge. As we suspected at the time, McDougall's primary interest was in perpetuating the incompetency myth.
On May 13, 2013, the criminal trial actually got underway. Logistics and motions were discussed over the first two days (read Day 1 Morning, Day 1 Afternoon, and Day 2) but it was becoming clear that McDougall's entire game was the continued competency gambit. Meanwhile the expanded prosecution bench (McKowan, Lynch, and Gianinni out of retirement for this trial) were talking about bringing on witnesses who would talk about what Al Solnit actually taught while ayres would have been training with him (that you DON'T do "medical exams") as well as students of ayres' who would testify that HE didn't train them to do "medical exams." In addition to this, the prosecution has found yet another victim, and wrangling was underway to bring his testimony into play.
The judge would hear nothing of McDougall's desire to delay for additional competency hearings. Juror selection got underway on the 3rd day.
On May 16, 2013, the fourth day of the criminal re-trial in the early afternoon, the appellate court denied McDougall another competency delay. At this point McDougall faced quickly arming up to fight off what the prosecution later called an "airtight" case. Only hours later we found out what McDougall had in his arsenal:
Turns out it that other than medical delay, McDougall was shooting blanks.
At 2pm on May 16th, 2013 william hamilton ayres plead "No Contest" to all 8 remaining counts and admitted special allegations, and the judge declared him guilty on all 8 counts. ayres could receive as much as 22 years in prison, but it will likely be closer to 8 years. He will likely be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Strangely, ayres was left out on bail, and his sentencing was set for August 6, 2013.
On June 4, 2013, acting on a motion by County Supervisor Dave Pine, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously rescinded the honor for a lifetime of achievement in psychiatry awarded to ayres in January of 2002. This likely one of the last of the professional honors that remained for ayres.
On October 30th, 2013 ayres filed his appeal, and as of mid July, 2014 the appellate court was still waiting for the filing of the opening brief. There have been several extensions to the "due date" for the opening brief: as of the time of this update, the new "extended" deadline date is August 22, 2014. ayres is currently listed as representing himself in the appeal; when ayres first filed the appeal, he was represented by the "First District Appellate Project" -- they appear to no longer be involved, and the court has admonished ayres that failure to find representation by the latest deadline is "unlikely to result in further extension". However, as of mid August, 2014, ayres has retained attorneys to represent him in his appeal, and they have obtained further deadline extensions. Opening briefs are currently due by October 21, 2014.
December 2014, ayres' lawyers requested a further time extension for opening briefs to be filed, and it was granted -- "No further extensions of time are contemplated" (Yeah... We've heard that before -- but hey, take your time.... ) Deadline for opening briefs is now 2/18/2015.
On February 10, 2015, ayres' lawyers requested a further time extension for opening briefs to be filed, and it was granted -(Remember how last time the court said "No further extensions of time are contemplated, in spite of the fact that when ayres' shysters originally asked for extension back in October of last year, they explicitly stated: "Counsel now requests an additional 60 days to file an opening brief and anticipates that "additional extensions of time very likely will be necessary.""?) Deadline for opening briefs is now April 20, 2015. Defense has submitted medical reports from Stanford Dr. Simon Tan and Napa doctor Warnick, both of whom offered up findings of "dementia" at various stages of the faked dementia malingering fiasco. Judges found these reports to be not thorough and not convincing. Napa Dr. McIlnay (The doctor who ultimately determined based on multiple reports and interviews that ayres was indeed malingering.) found that the other Napa doctors (including Warnick) were disturbingly influenced in their assessments by ayres' stature in the psychiatric community, and that their reports were generally incomplete.
On April 13, 2015, ayres' lawyers again requested a further time extension for opening briefs to be filed. (Remember how last time the court said "No further extensions of time shall be granted." and the time before that, the court said: "No further extensions of time are contemplated?")
Well, the extension was granted, of course. They are waiting on 42 additional transcripts. Additionally, a court reporter keeps asking for extensions. I assume that these are related, but I really have no way of knowing for sure. This time around, the court reporter missed the deadline for extensions, so that requested delay was denied. New Opening Brief Due Date: June 19, 2015
On June 16, 2015: A new 60 day extension (the 13th extension so far, if you're counting) for Opening Brief has been requested by plaintiff's shysters, and granted by the court. No explanation given. The new extension request paperwork date to beat is August 18, 2015!
November 5, 2015: Conviction Appeal Dismissed:
After several more delays, the appeal was finally dismissed on November 5, 2015.
March, 2016 MEDICAL PAROLE:
ayres requested "Medical Parole" in March of 2016, which was denied. No victims were notified of the parole, but Victoria Balfour found records of the hearing online after the fact. Victims called the DA to confirm that the molester was still in prison.
April 20, 2016 CHILD MOLESTER AYRES IS DEAD:
The child molester died in prison on April 20, 2016. Again, victims were not notified. Press was not notified. Again, it was Victoria Balfour happened across paperwork in one of her routine checks on one of the civil cases against ayres that indicated that the child molester had died. Victoria found the paperwork on May 11th, and notified this blog and the press, and we posted that ayres was dead on the 11th. The press had full stories on the 12th -- A FULL Twenty Two days after the molester croaked, without even a peep from the San Mateo County District Attorney.
Footnote, July 29, 2017 (with updates March 2, 2023):
Here is a timeline showing when the DA knew about the Parole and ayres' death, as well as how long it took them to completely botch any kind of public announcements, AND discussions that they had about possibly getting in trouble if they didn't contact victims BEFORE the parole hearing. All bullet points on the timeline are based on press reports and FOIA copies of internal communications between various DA office staff and PD staff.
Etta Bryant, M.D. (DEAD 03/02/2022) President Northern California ROCAP 1986-1988
- Co-wrote Practice Parameters for Sexually Abused Children (pdf) with wm. ayres.
Mel Blaustein, M.D. (CA license G 23057): President Northern California Psychiatric Soc. 1991-93
Harry Coren, M.D. (CA license G 9177): President, Northern California ROCAP 1994-1996
- Children's Psychological Health Center w/ Defense Witness G. Kliman.
Retired, Practice Not Permitted as of March 31, 2021
Tom Ciesla, M.D. (CA license G 9703): President of California Psychiatric Ass 2000-2002
Listed as delinquent in updating license, and marked as "Retired."
NOTE: Tom Ciesla was forced to surrender his New York State medical license in 2020 due to receipt of a Public letter of Reprimand in California due to professional misconduct. (pdf) The California letter of reprimand states that Ciesla prescribed two benzodiazepine medications to an elderly patient with increased risk of falls and that the handwritten medical records were illegible, and failed to document discussions about these risks with the patient, and lacked documentation of consent from the patient. (pdf) Note that he lists "Substance Abuse" as one of his diagnostic interests.
Richard A Shadoan, M.D. (CA license G 21001) : President of California Psychiatric Assn., 1994-1996
License was voluntarily cancelled or expired for at at least 5 years No Practice Permitted.
Captane Thomson, M.D. (DEAD 07/30/2023):(CA license G 17091): President of California Psychiatric Assn., 1992-94
Note: Captane's medical license expired on July 31, 2014, but as of our check in March 2023 was renewed and current. Capane had failed to provide key information to the California Medical Board as documented on their site: "Renewal Pending - Licensee failed to certify compliance with the continuing medical education requirement and/or failed to certify that he or she disclosed the names of those health-related facilities in which the licensee and/or family may have a financial interest. Practice is permitted unless license expires."
Harold Wallach, M.D.(DEAD 4/1/2013): President of California Psychiatric Assn., 1990-1992
I find it telling that these individuals have apparently not come forward to publicly refute their support of ayres, given the breadth and depth of the accusations against him, as well as the availability of the transcripts of ayres' own testimony, (which I have reported on, and are available for purchase from the San Mateo County Court ) which psychiatric professionals should probably recognize as more than a bit troubling. Indeed, Etta Bryant herself sat there in the trial most days, even disturbing court proceedings and running up to hug the molester at the beginning of the trial.
Harold Wallach, M.D.(DEAD 4/1/2013): President of California Psychiatric Assn., 1990-1992
I find it telling that these individuals have apparently not come forward to publicly refute their support of ayres, given the breadth and depth of the accusations against him, as well as the availability of the transcripts of ayres' own testimony, (which I have reported on, and are available for purchase from the San Mateo County Court ) which psychiatric professionals should probably recognize as more than a bit troubling. Indeed, Etta Bryant herself sat there in the trial most days, even disturbing court proceedings and running up to hug the molester at the beginning of the trial.
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Lunching with the Child Molester:
On August 18, 2011, the above listed doctors Kimmich and Lurie were filmed by a private investigator AT LUNCH with ayres, along with ayres' wife Solveig. According to the investigator's report, among other things, the four had a good laugh about Ayres' efforts to skirt prosecution by claiming incompetence to defend himself: "Both men spoke about the effects of Alzheimer's and the unidentified man said that its only benefit was that "you can mention it in front of the lawyers 'case it's serving a purpose" which was greeted by laughter from all seated at the table." This information was provided to the prosecution and the court prior to the DA's stipulation that ayres is not competent to assist in his own defense. It was ignored.
Click here for details of the report and video clips of the four.
The public needs to be aware of the methods, the excuses, the incompetent colleagues who cover for molesters like this, and they need to be aware that people in positions of authority have the propensity to look the other way, probably because of the prominence of these kinds of molesters, and the way that molesters like ayres drag officials into their web to ensure that they can continue to molest.
ayres even manged to insert himself into the process of defining his organization's guidelines for treating childhood victims of molestation, working as the chair of the Work Group on Quality Issues in writing a paper for the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry called “Practice Parameters for the Forensic Evaluation of Children and Adolescents Who May Have Been Physically or Sexually Abused” which is still considered to be an important guide in the practice, and was even used as a source for expert testimony in his own trial, by experts in his field. In the course of his testimony during his trial, it became clear that he tried very hard to insert the "necessity" for "medical examinations" into the practice parameters, but was met with opposition. What a slam dunk that would have been for a busy pedophile!
Currently, the search for older victims is well underway in places that ayres was "practicing" when he was younger, and perhaps even farther back than that.(Just look back in this blog for the last few months for plenty of details.)
Meanwhile, there are FIVE new civil suits against ayres for the exact same types of charges, brought by out-of-statute victims. Four of these civil cases were scheduled for trial in the fourth quarter of 2010, but the trial dates were vacated due to ayres' newly scheduled competency trial. It now appears that all of the cases are currently in a holding pattern, judges have ordered stays pending outcome of the civil trial in most of the cases.
As of April 3, 2012, the judge has told John Carcione, the attorney for three of the five plaintiffs that he should motion to lift the stay, so that those civil lawsuits may proceed. There is a case management hearing set for 5/15/2012 to set trial dates.
On August 22nd, 2011, Deputy DA McKowan stipulated that the child molester william hamilton ayres is incompetent to defend himself in criminal charges against him. (Note that they held the hearing BEFORE the published time, and finished before the press and a County Supervisor showed up to see what was going to happen. This despite the results of the privately hired investigator's video and report.)
The judge indicated that both prosecution and defense should submit reports, and that the Golden Gate Regional Center will issue a recommendation report by August 30, 2011. On September 7th, 2011, there was a hearing at 9am to determine ayres' placement. After Judge Grandsaert, the defense and the prosecutor made light of the distress caused by their clandestine change of hearing time on August 22nd, and Grandsaert further soapboxing about citizens providing evidence of ayres' competence, the next steps were declared, but there is still some confusion about the EXACT requirements.
In short, ayres was given until October 6th, 2011 to report to Napa State. This supposedly allows time to prepare necessary reports and for Napa to approve the lockup. (We presume this leaves wiggle room for ayres to get out of going due to insufficient bed space, Napa declaring that treatment isn't warranted, etc...)
As of October 6th, 2011, ayres was not locked up. In a hearing on Monday, October 3, 2011 the court was informed that indeed ayres took advantage of the wiggle room provided to him. According to what prosecutor McKowan told the Mercury News, the courts did not provide the necessary paperwork to Napa State on time. Oddly, in the October 3rd hearing, the court put the blame elsewhere, stating that there would be contempt proceedings if ayres was not locked up by the NEW wiggle-room-allowed date of October 26, 2011. Further, Judge Grandsaert ordered the defense to make sure that the paperwork was in order by the new date. There are enough questions about what was reported in the Mercury News that we don't think statements made by McKowan are accurate, but we're not sure what the truth really is.
On October 26, 2011 there was a rumor that ayres had, in fact checked himself into Napa State Hospital on the 25th. On November 2, 2011 there was a hearing scheduled, at which ayres was slated to get his $750,000 bail money back. We were not there, and the press never reported whether he got his money back, or even if he was really in lockup.
There appears to be a law that says that if a defendant is avoiding trial on claims of "not competent to assist in own defense" and they have committed certain nefarious crimes (of which molesting young boys happens to be one...) then they are REQUIRED to be LOCKED-UP for at least 180 days. However, the defense seemed to be arguing for some kind of early release to some other kind of managed care or other such facility. The judge ordered a hearing after 90 days of lockup, and we're not exactly clear about what this is for, and the press has heard differing stories as well.
In short, ayres was given until October 6th, 2011 to report to Napa State. This supposedly allows time to prepare necessary reports and for Napa to approve the lockup. (We presume this leaves wiggle room for ayres to get out of going due to insufficient bed space, Napa declaring that treatment isn't warranted, etc...)
As of October 6th, 2011, ayres was not locked up. In a hearing on Monday, October 3, 2011 the court was informed that indeed ayres took advantage of the wiggle room provided to him. According to what prosecutor McKowan told the Mercury News, the courts did not provide the necessary paperwork to Napa State on time. Oddly, in the October 3rd hearing, the court put the blame elsewhere, stating that there would be contempt proceedings if ayres was not locked up by the NEW wiggle-room-allowed date of October 26, 2011. Further, Judge Grandsaert ordered the defense to make sure that the paperwork was in order by the new date. There are enough questions about what was reported in the Mercury News that we don't think statements made by McKowan are accurate, but we're not sure what the truth really is.
On October 26, 2011 there was a rumor that ayres had, in fact checked himself into Napa State Hospital on the 25th. On November 2, 2011 there was a hearing scheduled, at which ayres was slated to get his $750,000 bail money back. We were not there, and the press never reported whether he got his money back, or even if he was really in lockup.
There appears to be a law that says that if a defendant is avoiding trial on claims of "not competent to assist in own defense" and they have committed certain nefarious crimes (of which molesting young boys happens to be one...) then they are REQUIRED to be LOCKED-UP for at least 180 days. However, the defense seemed to be arguing for some kind of early release to some other kind of managed care or other such facility. The judge ordered a hearing after 90 days of lockup, and we're not exactly clear about what this is for, and the press has heard differing stories as well.
Criminal Proceedings have were suspended for 9 months while ayres was locked up at Napa State. On July 25, 2012 proceedings were reinstated as Napa State has determined that ayres is competent to defend himself at trial.
There was a probate hearing April 25th, 2012. The hearing was to appoint Barbara Ayres, william ayres' daughter as conservator regarding management and application of his health care. Documents show that it is the intent of william ayres that he be placed in the LEAST restrictive care possible.
The probate hearing was held over until June 1, 2012, as Judge Foiles wanted to wait to see the results of the upcoming hearing regarding ayres' release.
Ahead of the criminal hearing, which was held over until May 3, 2012 According to news reports, ayres' children wrote letters to the judge about the difficult time ayres is having at Napa State, and whining about his constitutional rights being violated.
On May 3rd, 2012, The child molester's attorney delivered his motion to have ayres released from Napa State Hospital into outpatient or conservatorship oversight. He argued (confusingly) about the status and due dates of reports. The judge denied the motion, on the grounds that not all of the statute requirements had been met. The judged DID reset the due date for the second report from Napa State, saying that the lateness of the first report should not cause the second report due date to be moved. The first (90 day) report didn't have an assessment of ayres' status, as ayres has NOT been cooperating with the doctors at the hospital. In fact, according to the prosecution, the report stated that:
On July 25, 2012, there was a hearing to review and act on the report provided by Napa State Hospital. The content of the report was sealed, but was accompanied by a certificate of restoration, meaning that the doctors at Napa State Hospital have found that ayres is COMPETENT, and can therefore defend himself at trial (If that's what the prosecution decides to do...) The defense now has the opportunity to refute the certificate, and there was a new hearing scheduled on August 3rd, 2012 to discuss the reset ayres' bail and to hear the defense objections to the finding that ayres is indeed competent to defend himself..ayres has not been cooperative with the medical staff and he indicates that he’s not cooperating at the instruction of his attorney, Jonathan McDougall.The report says that ayres:➲ was not being cooperative,➲ he was not taking medication,➲ he was not sleeping because he refuses to use his CPAP machine (commonly used for sleep apnea patients),➲ he was refusing to participate in group sessions,➲ he was not participating in restoration planning.The report DOESN'T say anything about whether or not he can be restored to competency, because the doctors need to be able to evaluate him, but he’s not cooperating.However, the prosecutor says that from her discussion with doctors, there seems to be some indication that ayres could be ""returned" to competency".Prosecutor McKowan stated the following about what the report indicates:The doctors report that ayres was INTENTIONALLY not cooperating:1) Because his lawyer told him not to.2) The doctors specifically stated in the report that at one point Solveig tells her husband, to “Just go ahead and give it a try” to do what the doctors request and see if it works. ayres’ reply was “Why, so I can go to prison?”The prosecutor states that ayres has a “pointed intention NOT to be restored to competency.”
At the hearing on August 3rd, 2012, discussion first focused on the defense objections to the certification from Napa State Hospital doctors that ayres is competent. Although the reports themselves were sealed to prevent the public from having access to them until a later date, we learned that the content of the report reveals that ayres has been MALINGERING; faking his incompetence with the intent to avoid criminal retrial. We also learned that the staff (nurses, custodial staff, and transportation staff) have all reported ayres behavior to the medical staff, and that their observations are clearly integral to the assessment that while ayres has been busy pretending to be incapacitated in front of doctors, he is not able to keep up the front 24/7, and the staff are clear that ayres is faking.
Defense attorney McDougall contested the report and its competency finding, and that the doctors and/or staff at Napa misrepresented what McDougall himself has said. McDougall said that because of the misrepresentation, he would have to testify at the competency hearing that he was requesting.
Bail was also discussed, the judge indicated that he didn't think he was required by the applicable laws (California statute 1372) to set bail until the point that competency was accepted/approved by the judge. Since the defense was contesting the finding, the judge couldn't declare competency, and therefore the judge decided that ayres would remain locked up in county jail until competency was decided -- ayres was removed from Napa State under the same statute... If the Hospital finds the "patient" to be competent, they have 10 days to return the patient to the county for continuing proceedings.
The judge wanted to hear more information from the attorneys about bail, and so he set a follow-on hearing for August 8th, 2012.
On August 8, 2012, the judge reviewed submitted documents, denied bail until competency was decided, and set the "Competency Hearing" for October 1, 2012. Both the prosecutor and defense attorney said that they have pending court schedules at that time. The prosecutor said that she would very likely be able to move her schedule to meet the hearing requirements, but McDougall seemed skeptical that he'd be able to change his. The hearing is essentially a trial in front of Judge Grandsaert ONLY, there is no jury in this hearing. It's slated to last about seven court days.
On September 7, 2012, there was a procedural hearing, during which McDougall said that the thought that he might possibly be able to meet the October 1 competency hearing date, but this fell apart, and during a hearing on September 17, 2012, the competency hearing was delayed and is now slated to start on October 26, 2012. The child molester is to remain locked up in the county jail until the competency hearing is resolved. When the Napa State report was delivered and McDougall contested it, he was seeking ayres' release from custody and expected a competency hearing date in November 2012. Looks like he got half of what he wanted.
On October 26th, 2012 ayres' competency hearing went forward, and ultimately Judge Grandsaert decided that ayres is competent, and that his conduct while incarcerated at Napa State demonstrated that he was exaggerating (if not deliberately faking) his dementia symptoms. The hearing ended on October 31, 2012, and bail was raised to $900K.
On November 1, 2012 the ayres family posted bond, and ayres is back out in public.
February 2013 Civil Trial Updates: One of the four remaining civil cases against ayres relating to his molesting young boys was settled out of court. In another of the cases, ayres was granted a reprieve from deposition until after the criminal trial. The other two civil cases are still on hold.
The criminal re-trial is currently scheduled for March 11, 2013. BUT:
In a March 5, 2013 at 8:45am hearing, the defense moved to delay the re-trial for a myriad of ridiculous reasons. The trial was tentatively rescheduled for May 13, 2013, but due to the defense attorney's improperly filed paperwork, and the fact that ayres himself did not show up in court for the motion to delay (and the Judge's concern that ayres is a flight risk) parties must still show up on March 11, 2013.
On March 11, 2013 (the scheduled date for the start of re-trial) the rescheduled re-trial date of May 13, 2013 was confirmed. Within a week or so, motions were filed by defense to discuss further delay to the trial. A hearing is scheduled for April 18, 2013 to hear these motions. .
Meanwhile, in mid-march, we heard that ayres prosecutor McKowan has been privately sanctioned by the State Bar due to complaints against her.
As of early April, 2013, (SIX years after the arrest of ayres) there still seems to be no end in sight. Ear-to-the-ground rumblings seem to indicate that the prosecution feels that the court will not allow further delay, but we've heard these stories before.
May 2013 Civil Trial Updates: Of the three remaining known civil cases, one is scheduled for trial on September 3, 2013. The other two civil cases are still on hold, pending outcome of the criminal trial.
On May 9, 2013, there was a criminal pre-trial hearing to hear motions. Incredibly, defense attorney McDougall was claiming that ayres was "still" demented, and getting worse, but offered up absolutely no proof. Other motions were to recuse prosecutor McKowan, a demand for protective order to prevent the press from accessing more than limited information about the trial, and for all manner of accommodations to make the trial easier for the "incompetent" child molester. Additionally, the prosecution moved to re-introduce the nude boy books, but was shot down by the judge. As we suspected at the time, McDougall's primary interest was in perpetuating the incompetency myth.
On May 13, 2013, the criminal trial actually got underway. Logistics and motions were discussed over the first two days (read Day 1 Morning, Day 1 Afternoon, and Day 2) but it was becoming clear that McDougall's entire game was the continued competency gambit. Meanwhile the expanded prosecution bench (McKowan, Lynch, and Gianinni out of retirement for this trial) were talking about bringing on witnesses who would talk about what Al Solnit actually taught while ayres would have been training with him (that you DON'T do "medical exams") as well as students of ayres' who would testify that HE didn't train them to do "medical exams." In addition to this, the prosecution has found yet another victim, and wrangling was underway to bring his testimony into play.
The judge would hear nothing of McDougall's desire to delay for additional competency hearings. Juror selection got underway on the 3rd day.
On May 16, 2013, the fourth day of the criminal re-trial in the early afternoon, the appellate court denied McDougall another competency delay. At this point McDougall faced quickly arming up to fight off what the prosecution later called an "airtight" case. Only hours later we found out what McDougall had in his arsenal:
Turns out it that other than medical delay, McDougall was shooting blanks.
At 2pm on May 16th, 2013 william hamilton ayres plead "No Contest" to all 8 remaining counts and admitted special allegations, and the judge declared him guilty on all 8 counts. ayres could receive as much as 22 years in prison, but it will likely be closer to 8 years. He will likely be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Strangely, ayres was left out on bail, and his sentencing was set for August 6, 2013.
On June 4, 2013, acting on a motion by County Supervisor Dave Pine, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously rescinded the honor for a lifetime of achievement in psychiatry awarded to ayres in January of 2002. This likely one of the last of the professional honors that remained for ayres.
On August 6, 2013 the sentencing was missed because the Court was delayed in finding a shrink who was qualified AND was not potentially biased through relationship with ayres. When one was finally found, they needed some extra time to finish the report. On the 6th, the judge was out of town, and a substitute judge held the "Official" date to reset the sentence to August 7th, 2013. The expected new date for sentencing is now August 26, 2013.
On August 7th, 2013 ayres had his bail revoked and was remanded into custody of the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City. The sentencing date was set more firmly for August 26th at 9am, in spite of defense requests to move it into mid-September. While there may be other motions (including the defense's desire to retract the "No Contest" plea) in the interim, the court DID express a necessity to set a firm date to help comply with Marsy's Law, allowing the chance for victims to be heard.
On August 26th, 2013 ayres was sentenced to 8 years in state penitentiary with 432 days of credit for time served. Read HERE and HERE. The defense attorney has stated that an appeal will be filed by another attorney.
On February 2nd, 2014 the Stockton Record reported that the facility where ayres is incarcerated (the California Health Care Facility at Stockton) was stopping admissions of inmates due to extraordinarily unhealthy and unsanitary conditions, including massive outbreaks of scabies.
On August 7th, 2013 ayres had his bail revoked and was remanded into custody of the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City. The sentencing date was set more firmly for August 26th at 9am, in spite of defense requests to move it into mid-September. While there may be other motions (including the defense's desire to retract the "No Contest" plea) in the interim, the court DID express a necessity to set a firm date to help comply with Marsy's Law, allowing the chance for victims to be heard.
On August 26th, 2013 ayres was sentenced to 8 years in state penitentiary with 432 days of credit for time served. Read HERE and HERE. The defense attorney has stated that an appeal will be filed by another attorney.
On February 2nd, 2014 the Stockton Record reported that the facility where ayres is incarcerated (the California Health Care Facility at Stockton) was stopping admissions of inmates due to extraordinarily unhealthy and unsanitary conditions, including massive outbreaks of scabies.
December 2014, ayres' lawyers requested a further time extension for opening briefs to be filed, and it was granted -- "No further extensions of time are contemplated" (Yeah... We've heard that before -- but hey, take your time.... ) Deadline for opening briefs is now 2/18/2015.
On February 10, 2015, ayres' lawyers requested a further time extension for opening briefs to be filed, and it was granted -(Remember how last time the court said "No further extensions of time are contemplated, in spite of the fact that when ayres' shysters originally asked for extension back in October of last year, they explicitly stated: "Counsel now requests an additional 60 days to file an opening brief and anticipates that "additional extensions of time very likely will be necessary.""?) Deadline for opening briefs is now April 20, 2015. Defense has submitted medical reports from Stanford Dr. Simon Tan and Napa doctor Warnick, both of whom offered up findings of "dementia" at various stages of the faked dementia malingering fiasco. Judges found these reports to be not thorough and not convincing. Napa Dr. McIlnay (The doctor who ultimately determined based on multiple reports and interviews that ayres was indeed malingering.) found that the other Napa doctors (including Warnick) were disturbingly influenced in their assessments by ayres' stature in the psychiatric community, and that their reports were generally incomplete.
On April 13, 2015, ayres' lawyers again requested a further time extension for opening briefs to be filed. (Remember how last time the court said "No further extensions of time shall be granted." and the time before that, the court said: "No further extensions of time are contemplated?")
Well, the extension was granted, of course. They are waiting on 42 additional transcripts. Additionally, a court reporter keeps asking for extensions. I assume that these are related, but I really have no way of knowing for sure. This time around, the court reporter missed the deadline for extensions, so that requested delay was denied. New Opening Brief Due Date: June 19, 2015
On June 16, 2015: A new 60 day extension (the 13th extension so far, if you're counting) for Opening Brief has been requested by plaintiff's shysters, and granted by the court. No explanation given. The new extension request paperwork date to beat is August 18, 2015!
November 5, 2015: Conviction Appeal Dismissed:
After several more delays, the appeal was finally dismissed on November 5, 2015.
March, 2016 MEDICAL PAROLE:
ayres requested "Medical Parole" in March of 2016, which was denied. No victims were notified of the parole, but Victoria Balfour found records of the hearing online after the fact. Victims called the DA to confirm that the molester was still in prison.
April 20, 2016 CHILD MOLESTER AYRES IS DEAD:
The child molester died in prison on April 20, 2016. Again, victims were not notified. Press was not notified. Again, it was Victoria Balfour happened across paperwork in one of her routine checks on one of the civil cases against ayres that indicated that the child molester had died. Victoria found the paperwork on May 11th, and notified this blog and the press, and we posted that ayres was dead on the 11th. The press had full stories on the 12th -- A FULL Twenty Two days after the molester croaked, without even a peep from the San Mateo County District Attorney.
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Footnote, July 29, 2017 (with updates March 2, 2023):
Here is a timeline showing when the DA knew about the Parole and ayres' death, as well as how long it took them to completely botch any kind of public announcements, AND discussions that they had about possibly getting in trouble if they didn't contact victims BEFORE the parole hearing. All bullet points on the timeline are based on press reports and FOIA copies of internal communications between various DA office staff and PD staff.
Note: as of March 2, 2023, to the best of my knowledge, there has NEVER been an OFFICIAL confirmation of death of ayres from San Mateo County. Articles in the papers had confirmation from the Solano County Coroner only.
Enjoy the shit-show that these incompetent morons seem to enjoy performing.
You'll need to download the image to see it full screen... it's a large image:
You'll need to download the image to see it full screen... it's a large image:
Download the timeline: Click Here!
Source Documents for much of this timeline:
A FOIA request for documents relating to ayres' medical parole hearing and death revealed a great deal of information about the mis-steps and blunders relating to the DA's interaction with victims.
These documents include emails from prosecutor McKowan, DA Wagstaffe, Chief Deputy Karen Guidotti, Jim Fox, the department of corrections, Officer Decker, and others.
* It's clear that the DA is very "cozy" with the press, and that the press soft pedals these blunders.
* It's clear that there was no urgency in the DA's office to deal with the victims in the ayres case.
* It's clear that even though at the highest levels of the DA's office they knew that there were some performance issues that they had with McKowan, there was no real motivation from Wagstaffe or Guidotti to mentor, guide, or otherwise discipline for these embarrassing mistakes. This was an absolute shit-show.
Marsy's Law is a law that is supposed to make it easier for victims of crimes to get information about their case, including especially things like parole hearings, and release from incarceration. The law requires that victims request the updates.
In 2013 WELL before these violations (many of us had officially requested updates prior to this) DA Wagstaffe did an interview with KCBS (pdf) regarding Marsy's law, and he had this to say:
"We try to comply with it in every case that we can, whether or not there's a request," he explained. "It does not take a request for us to do it, let's try and make it happen in every case."
"Probably less than one percent of the cases where they're exercising their rights to be informed on things. It's for that reason we try to, as a matter of office policy, we try to follow its dictates even if they're(sic) isn't a request,"
Here are the FOIA requested documents (pdf) that we used for a large part of the timeline above. Gotta see it to believe it.
Heaven knows insanity was disreputable enough, long ago; but now that the lawyers have got to cutting every gallows rope and picking every prison lock with it, it is become a sneaking villainy that ought to hang and keep on hanging its sudden possessors until evil-doers should conclude that the safest plan was to never claim to have it until they came by it legitimately. The very calibre of the people the lawyers most frequently try to save by the insanity subterfuge ought to laugh the plea out of the courts, one would think.
-Mark Twain
