CrimeWatch

REDWOOD CITY (BCN) ― Opening statements began Tuesday morning in San Mateo County Superior Court in the trial of a once-prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist accused of molesting several young patients in the 1990s.

William Ayres, 77, sat quietly at the defense table throughout statements by prosecuting attorney Melissa McKowan, who called Ayres a pedophile, and Ayres' defense attorney Doron Weinberg, who argued his client did not act inappropriately.

Ayres, a former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is charged with 10 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 14 for allegedly molesting six boys between ages 9 and 13 from 1988 to 1996.

He was arrested in April 2007 and has been free on $750,000 bail.

McKowan told jurors Tuesday morning that six witnesses will testify against Ayres. She said four other men whose claims fall outside the statute of limitations will also address the court but that it is up to the jurors whether their testimony can be used as evidence.

McKowan said the six witnesses who will testify were children with behavioral issues who sought treatment from Ayres, and were disturbed by the alleged requests he made of them during what he told them were routine medical examinations.

"The boys were simply asked to remove their clothing, and the doctor began to touch, fondle, molest and masturbate their penises and testicles," McKowan said.

"The doctor regularly conducted physical exams," she added. "The boys thought they must submit."

McKowan said Ayres asked one of the alleged victims if he wanted Ayres to determine what stage of puberty he was in.

"The boy said, 'No thanks,'" McKowan said. But during another session, the boy said he had a pain in his side and Ayres offered to examine him, she said.

"The doctor told him to take off his pants" and began massaging his groin area, McKowan said. The boy "completely freaked out."

McKowan said another alleged victim was 9 years old when Ayres "masturbated him to an erection and told him not to tell anyone."

Ayres allegedly told a third alleged victim, who had problems with bed-wetting, to let Ayres watch him urinate, McKowan said.

"He justified what the doctor was doing because of the bed-wetting," she said. "The doctor watched him urinate."

Some of the alleged victims told their parents what happened, and some did not mention it until San Mateo police contacted them during the police investigation, McKowan said.

Nonetheless, she said, the witnesses' accounts are accurate and credible.

"Their credibility is based not on what they have done in the past, but based on what they saw," McKowan said.

"These were not legitimate medical examinations, but a ruse of a pedophile to look at and molest little boys," she added.

Weinberg began his opening statements by acknowledging that the examinations occurred, but denying that Ayres molested the boys.

He said Ayres believed that it was a psychiatrist's duty to treat the whole person, including by conducting physical examinations.

Weinberg emphasized that practices in place 50 years ago—Ayres received his medical license in 1956 -- may not be as common today due to a change in culture.

"There will be evidence that puts (the claims) in a completely different frame," Weinberg said.

He said the alleged victims "elaborated and exaggerated simple medical procedures."

The patients, he added, "were young people with emotionally psychiatric conditions."

He also stressed that their memory of events should be questioned because of the amount of time between when the alleged crimes took place and when they came forward with their claims.

"The majority of witnesses didn't say anything for years," Weinberg said. "Then they came forward when prodded by external events."

Opening statements concluded and testimony began shortly before 2 p.m.

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