Prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist to be retried on molestation charges
Dr. William Ayres is accused of molesting five boys.
After years of legal wrangling, Dr. William Ayres, an 81-year-old former San Mateo psychiatrist accused of molesting boys during examinations in the 1990s, admitted to the charges against him Thursday.
A wheelchair-bound Ayres pleaded no contest to eight felony molestation charges just four days into jury selection in his second trial in San Mateo County Superior Court. His first trial ended in a hung jury and a mistrial in 2009.
Ayres, who for years has professed his innocence, sat in a wheelchair as he changed his plea just after 2 p.m. today in Judge Beth Labson Freeman’s courtroom.
San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan dismissed on Thursday a ninth felony count against Ayres, who also admitted to special allegations attached to each of the other eight counts.
He clearly stated “Admit!” when asked about each special allegation.
A former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ayres was arrested on April 6, 2007, at his San Mateo home.
Ayres was charged with nine counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 for allegedly inappropriately touching five boys who had come to him for counseling in the early 1990s.
Prosecutors say the molestations involved the fondling of young patients during “medical” examinations while they were in counseling sessions with Ayres during a period between 1991 and 1996. The boys were between the ages of 9 and 13 at the time, according to McKowan.
Prosecutors had identified a total of 45 other alleged victims, but the statute of limitations made it impossible to try those cases, McKowan said.
McKowan believes it was the prosecution’s “airtight case” that motivated the change of plea. She said that following the 2009 mistrial, she and San Mateo police Detective Rick Decker interviewed jurors in that trial and contacted numerous witnesses from Ayres’ background.
Defense Attorney Jonathan McDougall said he had no comment on Ayres’ no-contest pleas. He said he plans to speak after Ayers is sentenced.
Ayres is facing a maximum of 22 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 6. Freeman, who was the judge in Ayres’ first trial, has scheduled a half-day hearing to allow all victims to speak.
If you have been arrested for a Sex Crime the Law Offices of Daniel R. Perlman can help. Please contact a Los Angeles Sex Crimes Attorney today to have your case reviewed.
Source: sfexaminer.com “Prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist to be retried on molestation charges,” May 22, 2013.
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