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Delay In Molest Trial For Peninsula Psychiatrist

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Dec 23, 2008 9:59 pm US/Pacific

Delay In Molest Trial For Peninsula Psychiatrist

CBS 5 CrimeWatch

REDWOOD CITY (BCN) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Dr. William Ayres
San Mateo County Sheriff's Office

The trial date for a prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist accused of molesting several young patients in the 1990s was delayed Tuesday until May, a chief deputy district attorney said.

William Hamilton Ayres, 76, once president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, faces multiple felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 in San Mateo County Superior Court.

His trial was rescheduled from Jan. 5 to May 11 so his attorney, Doron Weinberg, can cover the Phil Spector murder trial in Los Angeles, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Ayres allegedly fondled seven boys between the ages of 9 and 12 who had come to him for counseling from 1991 to 1996, but prosecutors claim there are about 30 other victims whose alleged molestations fall outside the statute of limitations.

Weinberg has claimed that the accusations by former patients were likely the result of either a mistake, false memory or suggestion.

Ayres remains out of custody in lieu of $750,000 bail, Wagstaffe said.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison, according to the district attorney's office.

His jury trial is scheduled to begin May 11 at 8:30 a.m.