Civil Trial Updates.

[Original post: 06/30/2010 8:45am, PST]
There are two new hearing dates for the civil trials against william hamilton ayres for the molestation of young boys:

On June 21, 2010, william ayres (John Doe 1) filed motions to continue the scheduled  trial date in each of the four civil cases against him which already have trials scheduled. There is at least one other known civil case (bottom of list below) which has not yet assigned a trial date.

The hearing date for the motion to continue is: July 20, 2010 at 9:00am PST, Dept PJLM.


On June 18, 2010, william ayres filed Motion for Summary Judgment against the first amended complaint filed by the plaintiff in case number CIV467743.

The hearing date for the motion for summary judgement is: September 07, 2010 at 9:00am PST, Dept LM.


I have updated the ayres' Court Dates page as well as the google calendar to reflect these recent updates.

Pope - Same Dirty Habits as Always

According to foxnews.com today,  the pope is not happy about the Belgians raiding "the home and office of a retired archbishop and also the graves of two prelates" in their raids against pedophiles in the church. One of the pope's henchmen, Monsignor Andre-Joseph Leonard, expressed "his solidarity with all Belgian bishops "in this sad moment.""

What a crock.

Poor Pope... everyone seems to be upset with the fact that all of his employees like to have sex with kids. Why can't everyone just leave the Pope and his gang alone to have the fun that they want to have.

I didn't used to be a Catholic basher, even after all of the scandals broke. I guess I fell for the whole "individuals who are bad, not an institutional problem" line. Stupid thing to think apparently.

It was one year ago today...

One year ago (give or take a day) We got this news:

From Michael Stogner, posted at the the smdailyjournal forums:

Books not allowed

The Defense motion to suppress the three books that were found by the San Mateo Police Department in the file cabinets of Dr. William Ayres this last month, has been granted.The books are not in the trial.

12:20pm Update: Story in the San Mateo County Times is NO LONGER available:

5/31/2010 Update: here's a another link about the books being disallowed: San Mateo Daily Journal.

Defense attorney Doron Weinberg praised the judge's decision.

"We don't think that they would have made a significant difference in the case," Weinberg said. "The evidence wasn't relevant or critical, but we believe the court ruled correctly."

Here is the original post about the first inkling we got of the books:

Weinberg Attempts to Split Hairs On Groping
Additional Afternoon Information
And then, of course we got the news as posted above.

It's been such a long time that the links to the newspaper stories that I linked to in those articles are no longer active.

Delay Du Jour

[Original post: 06/10/2010 11:45am ]
[Updates: 06/10/2010 11:12pm ]

In the matter of "doctor" william hamilton ayres "psychiatrist" accused of molesting many young boys under the guise of psychiatric treatment:

As usual, ayres was not present in the courtroom; out on his 977 waiver. There were several parents and supporters present as usual. There is no indication that press was present. (I'm sure there will be a little "as told to" or "As heard from..." report.) The judge was not the same judge who handled the trial (as was the case last time we were in court for competency hearing results.)

Both doctors charged with evaluating ayres' competence to assist in his own defense are in agreement: 

ayres IS competent.

The judge had a copy of Dr. Singh's report, but not Dr. Good's report. (No idea if those are correct spellings.) Jonathan McDougall, ayres' attorney and Melissa McKowan, prosecutor, both confirmed to the judge that Dr. Good indicated what we all know to be true: ayres IS competent.

As we all know, McDougall's entire defense strategy is to delay until the molester is dead, or until all of the witnesses are dead or give up.

Therefore, McDougall stated that he would like to have a jury trial to determine if ayres is competent. 

The jury trial to determine if ayres is competent will be held on:
October 4th, 2010 at 9am PST and is expected to last a week to 10 days.
Note that this date is also the start date for the second of the civil lawsuits against ayres to start trial. Something will have to give.

McDougall said that he expects to call about four witnesses. (Who were paid, no doubt, to conclude that ayres is a loon. Hopefully the jury will "get" that the two INDEPENDENT and IMPARTIAL doctors were not paid to find one way or the other. ) 

The court sealed Dr. Singh's report, and I assume the same will happen to Dr. Good's report when it gets to the judge. The jury will get to see the reports during the competency trial, and presumably, they will be called as witnesses for the prosecution. 

To repeat in case you think I've mistyped: Both evaluating doctors say ayres is competent. There will be a trial to determine competence.

"The Daily Journal" has posted their article.  They mention that the name of the judge hearing the proceedings today was Judge Susan Etezadi. This is the same judge who sentenced a guy who had sex with a 12 year old girl multiple times to 1 year in jail (local jail.. not prison) and he doesn't have to register as a sex offender. I'm not sure why I'm complaining about the judge though... prosecutors were only asking for 2 years.

By the way: here are some other interesting stories about Etezadi's caseload:
Teacher takes plea in sexting case
Porn charges dropped against foster dad
Online prostitution case dismissed

Good thing they've moved her to the juvenile division in the wake of Diaz' transfer.

San Mateo County: Come and Have Sex With Our Children
 (Jaunty music plays in the background...)

Hearing Reminder

TODAY June 10th, 2010

8:30am PST

Evaluating doctors are supposed to have the results of ayres' competence to stand trial report completed. This is one of those bulk sessions where lots of cases are shuffled around, so ayres' hearing probably won't happen at 8:30, but there's no way to know. 

No idea what will happen. I'm not anticipating good news. 

Judge Marta Diaz Reassigned

[Original post: 06/04/2010 7:45am, PST]
[Update: 06/04/2010 9:15am, PST]
Judge Marta "I don't care. I know it's all bullshit" Diaz,  San Mateo County juvenile court supervising judge has been reassigned (not by her choice) to the South San Francisco courthouse. Her judicial profile has already been wiped from the San Mateo Superior Court website.

All of the usual "this is just standard procedure" and "Judge did a great job" "Not politically motivated" statements are already firmly declared.

I does appear to me from what Michelle Durand reports in The Daily Journal that it was mostly a politically motivated gambit lining up who's going to hold the reigns in the future.

There are several "juvenile advocate" agencies who are upset over the change. I don't trust their opinion any farther than I can spit. As a general rule, I think they also focus on political expediency more than on any altruistic intent. That's just an opinionated opinion though.

Judge Diaz sent boys to william hamilton ayres for evaluation even after ayres was charged in 2002 with the molestation of many of the young boys sent to him  under the guise of providing "psychiatric treatement." Diaz  is said to have made statements protective of ayres.

As an interesting observation:  rumor of this move has probably  been swirling within the courthouses for several days, as there has been a huge spike on people reading Diaz stories on this site for about the last three days or so. In anticipation of some news,  I've been scanning the news sites for the last couple of days, but alas, I missed the story when it finally did come out. It was pointed out to me by Patient Advocate! (Thanks again!)

ALSO in today's news:

Looks like McDougall (ayres' current criminal attorney) is going to be going to trial with his other big client, Alexander Robert Youshock,  but not necessarily for what you might think:

Two of the three evaluators said that he is competent, but McDougall want to make really really really sure, so now there will be a jury to decide whether Youshock is really really really really competent or not.

I'm sure that's what will happen in ayres' case as well. As long as he keeps paying McDougall, he'll never go to trial.

On the other hand, I suppose it could work to our advantage if the doctors in ayres' case find him not competent, I assume the prosecution could request a jury determination as well. I would think that since it appears that the evaluating doctors in ayres' case may not be entirely unbiased and may even be influenced by  reports that the defense paid for, they'd have a good case.

Yay for the superfine "justice" system we have in this country!

Video - If you're ready to see it.

[Original post: 05/28/2010 09:50am ]
Recently, I was downtown in San Mateo, and recorded a video.
(by the way, court date for next criminal hearing was checked yesterday. No change so far.)

WARNING: This video shows the old office of william hamilton ayres in San Mateo. Do not watch it if you can not handle it. I thought I was ready, but was not, but did OK.

There is an 8 second bailout warning message at the front of the video.

This is a video taken starting out walking from the sidewalk in front of 215 N San Mateo Drive, in San Mateo County, up the stairs in the FRONT of the building and coming around the corner to look at #5. The video halts with #5 in full view, and holds for about 10 seconds and then ends. 


Note that youtube did not let me select the "warning" screen as the thumbnail for this video, it automatically picked a view of the first office on the top floor (not #5.) I selected a different thumbnail, but it may be a few hours before it changes. If you don't even want to see the office building DON'T scroll down below this text. 

ayres' name does not appear anywhere on any of the placards anymore, and the video does NOT include going up or down the stairs in the back, to the parking lot. If you feel the need to see video of the back stairs and are ready for it, let me know. I can't promise anything, but I'll consider trying to get back there and take that video. When I took this video, I didn't think to do the back steps, because I always went up the front steps. I did occur to me once I got to the top, but there were people hanging around, and so I just left.

The video also does NOT include any of the inside of the office or attempt to peek through the window. It does look like the inside door was open, as light was streaming through. An unusual sight, to say the least.

For those who don't know: #5 was the office of william hamilton ayres, a "child psychiatrist" who molested his patients in the guise of giving medical exams.

Please don't watch unless you're pretty sure you're ready for it:

The Uncommon Tangent (Vol. 1 Issue 2)

[Original post: 05/24/10 10:45am ] 
More bad luck for Jonathan McDougall, the attorney who former "child psychiatrist" william hamilton ayres has hired to represent him in his criminal trial on multiple charges of child molestation. (Other lawyers represent him in the five separate civil cases against him for the same kinds of charges.) :


I've reported before that McDougall has had lots of trouble finding competent high profile defendants to defend in court... its seems that McDougall is constantly taking the moral high ground, and instead of just pushing through and taking money from high profile (and obviously guilty) clients, he is being honest and responsible, in that as soon as he gets the slightest indication that his clients might not be intellectually up-to-snuff and incapable of assisting in their own defense, he reports his suspicions to the court immediately prior to the latest possible time he could report these conditions.


Well, I've been following the Alexander Robert Youshock case because it parallels the competency evaluations in the ayres case, but is further along in the delay process,  and so far, we seem to be on the same general schedule. The doctors in the Youshock case needed more time, then couldn't agree, and a tiebreaker doc was brought in. Essentially the same thing has happened in the ayres case, because they couldn't find non-biased doctors to evaluate him. 


Anyhow, in the Youshock case, the third doctor was supposed to have his report by last Friday, but according to the San Mateo Daily Journal, he needed more time to finish it. So now he has until June 3, 2010.

I'm shocked at this delay. Shocked, I tell you - just shocked.

The Uncommon Tangent (Vol. 1 Issue 1)

[Original post: 05/17/10 12:45pm ] 

Two interesting news stories today:

High Court Upholds Sex Offender Law:

Well, this one is an interesting development. In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme court has upheld a federal law which allows sex offenders to be confined beyond the term of their prison sentences if they are deemed to be dangerous to the community. (The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act)

In general, I'm always happy to see sex offenders locked up for as long as possible. There's a twist though:

The two hold outs are Thomas and Scalia. What??

Well, here's the thing of it:
According to Fox News, my two favorite conservative justices "contend the law goes beyond the powers given the federal government by the Constitution"  Personally I think that earlier appeals panels may have been more clear in their explanations when they discussed concern about the government locking up people simply because they had the potential to commit crimes in the future. This is a more conservative line of thinking, and one which I wholeheartedly support. (Perhaps the AP didn't pick the best quote from Thomas and Scalia, or maybe they're were having an uncharacteristically befuddled day...)

At the risk of alienating victim's rights advocates out there, let me say that while I am personally happy that this will lead to more lock-up time for sex offenders, I have to say that these kinds of laws are too dangerous for my taste. I think they will ultimately be detrimental to the cause, as the waters become ever more muddy when people begin to use the law for "political reasons" more than for the "protection of society." We need clear and concise laws making this reprehensible behavior punishable by frighteningly long prison terms.

For example, I can easily see authorities relying on the law during election years to extend the lock-up of sex offenders who were already seen as the dregs of society. Conversely, even during election years, I could never see them using this kind of law to hold a politically well connected sex offender like william hamilton ayres, because it would simply draw attention to mistakes that have been made by authorities in the past.

Personally, I think that victims advocate groups (and upstanding lawmakers) should be having frank discussions with the public about the reality of the damage that is caused by these kinds of crimes, and that the current levels of imprisonment and fines are not strong enough; are not commensurate with the damage done.

The law should directly address this, neither by extension of terms via add-on laws, nor by "civil commitment," but rather by extending the punitive durations and fines of the very crimes themselves, to bring them in line with the actual damage done. Let's lock these creeps up for a long time because we have duly convicted them of bad crimes, let's not leave long convictions to the whim of some committee later, as an afterthought. By the way, we need to do this NOW, not after we remove these constitutionally questionable laws.

All the same, as long as everyone's sliding down slippery slopes, this is one that I suppose I'll hop on.


Church Sex Abuse Defense Detailed:

According to Fox News, The Vatican has laid out their defense plans for us: In order to have pesky lawsuits dismissed, (and to prevent the Pope from getting subpoenaed and deposed), the Holy See will be arguing (among other things)  that the US bishops who didn't report crimes are not their employees, and therefore the 1962 Vatican document barring bishops from reporting the crimes didn't apply to THOSE bishops.

Right.

A Prayer For Sincere Repentance  from Catholic.org

Oh Most humane and adorable Jesus, Your endless grace and mercy flows forth. Before granting the gift of absolution To earnest repenters of sinful ways, You demanded a sacrificial compensation. For a wrongful act cannot be rectified Until punishment has been accepted! Yes, for the salvation of my soul, Jesus, You accepted the price of the Cross! Grant me the grace to remain free of debts, My heart remaining flawless before You, Making Your absolution truly worthwhile!

Anyone at the "Holy" See look up the definition of Repent lately?

Probably not. Too busy trying to figure out how to skirt responsibility for hiding molesters.

Jesus ain't there to be used and then chucked back into the Community Chest pile like a "get out of jail free" card. Ya gotta at least pause for long enough to actually have faith.

Catholic Molesters: Come on down!

[Original post: 05/11/2010 07:45am ]
Today, foxnews.com reports that pope Benedict XVI said:

[...]the clerical abuse scandal represents "the greatest persecution of the church," but said it was born from sins inside the church, not outside.

And he "called for profound purification and penance within the church as well as pardon and justice." 

A. I'd like to know exactly what the "pardon and justice" part of this statement means. (Seems to me like he could have replaced that phrase with "business as usual.")

B. Why does this seem to me to be very reminiscent of alleged "psychiatrist" william hamilton ayres molesting lots of little boys, and then getting involved in writing “Practice Parameters for the Forensic Evaluation of Children and Adolescents Who May Have Been Physically or Sexually Abused” for the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  Hmmm... seems like a pattern of common behavior of molesters if you ask me...

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Melancholy, in abundance.

I love mankind - it's people I can't stand.  
-Charles M. Schulz

Of the demonstrably wise there are but two:  those who commit suicide, and those who keep their reasoning faculties atrophied by drink.
-Samuel Clemens 

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. 
-George Bernard Shaw

Nothing is more miserable than man,
Of all upon the earth that breathes and creeps.
-Homer

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.  
-G.K. Chesterton

I see it all perfectly:  there are two possibilities, one can either do this or do that.  My honest opinion and friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it, you will regret both.
-Kierkegaard

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows.
-David T. Wolf

Cheers!

This Evening's News

[Original post: 05/04/10 07:00pm ]

According to Mercyneal over at the websleuths.com blog, one of the in-statute victims will not be testifying in the re-trial, assuming it ever takes place. Mercyneal is a known and reliable source, so this is certainly accurate information. According to Mercyneal the victim lost an important job when he was out to testify in the last trial, and he can not afford to take this risk again.

We wish him and his family the all the best while he focuses on moving forward with his life. This has been tough for all, and I'm sure a million times tougher for those who had the tenacity to stand and testify against the animal in the first place, and they all certainly deserve to be able to focus and heal.