REDWOOD CITY — In a shocking twist Wednesday to a long running case, a once-prominent Bay Area child psychiatrist accused of molesting his patients was deemed competent to stand retrial — a threat he’d seemingly avoided.
Willam Ayres, 80, must return to Redwood City from Napa State Hospital for an August 3 bail hearing, ordered San Mateo County Superior Court Judge John Grandsaert at a brief hearing Wednesday. His ruling was prompted by a July 24 report from Napa doctors which says Ayres, who was committed due to the onset of dementia, is well enough to defend himself against nine felony counts of molestation.
It was a surprising turn because dementia is a progressive condition, which means it generally gets worse over time. However, it wasn’t a shock to Rinaldo Brutoco, the father of an alleged victim, who said he’d long been convinced Ayres was faking the illness to avoid criminal justice. Brutoco pointed to a private investigator’s video footage showing Ayres, after his initial diagnosis of dementia, carrying on animated and intricate discussions over dinner in San Francisco.
“I’m just speculating, but I suspect the doctors realized he wasn’t like the rest of the patients,” Brutoco, 65, of Santa Barbara said of Ayres.
Grandsaert temporarily sealed the Napa report, which keeps it from public view. Both Defense attorney Jonathan McDougall and Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan declined to discuss the document.
Ayres was committed to Napa about nine months ago after the defense and prosecution agreed he wasn’t well enough to stand trial. In the intervening time McDougall and the Ayres family have been pushing to have him released due to the worsening of his symptoms. At a hearing in April, Ayres appeared paranoid and haggard and at one point nearly took off his shirt in court.
McDougall declined to comment on the developments outside court. Ayres’ wife was present for the hearing, but the defendant was not.
While the doctors’ report paves the way for a new trial for Ayres, it is not a certainty. McDougall could still ask for a full hearing on the competency issue. He told Grandsaert he anticipated such a hearing but added he must consult with his client first.
A second trial would mean a shot at either vindication for Ayres or closure for the victims. The first prosecution of the one-time head of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ended with a hung jury in July 2009. McKowan and the alleged victims told jurors that Ayres had used the guise of physical exams to molest them. On at least one charge, the panel voted 11-1 in favor of convicting him.
Prosecutors opted to retry him, but that effort has been repeatedly delayed as the issue of Ayres’ mental health has popped up. The mistrial that resulted from the 2009 prosecution also laid the groundwork for a campaign accusing McKowan of mishandling the case. A California Bar investigation of her prosecution of the case remains unresolved.
“We are amazed by this because it goes against everything we thought we knew about his condition,” McKowan said. “We are extremely happy and hope to get to trial as soon as possible.”
Contact Joshua Melvin at 650-348-4335. Follow him at Twitter.com/melvinreport.
