CrimeWatch

REDWOOD CITY (BCN) ― A former San Mateo child psychiatrist accused of molesting several young patients took the stand in his own defense in San Mateo County Superior Court Wednesday and discussed the physical examinations he performed on his patients that led to the molestation accusations.

William Ayres, 77, appeared calm as he began testifying at 1:30 p.m. Gray-haired, bearded and soft-spoken, he answered questions from his defense attorney Doron Weinberg about the physical examinations he performed on patients in the more than 40 years he practiced medicine until his retirement in 2005.

Ayres 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.

The bulk of the accusations against Ayres deal with physical examinations the doctor conducted on his patients, which Ayres described Wednesday as "useful" when treating patients but which prosecutor Melissa McKowan said were "not legitimate."

Ayres testified that he was "very hands-on with patients" by arranging hospital visits if they needed them, visiting the patients at home in an emergency and going to the patients' schools.

He said he was not reluctant to conduct physical examinations on his patients as well, sometimes in order to get to know them at the beginning of their treatment and other times as a way of ensuring their health.

"I think physical exams develop a kind of trust, and (the patients) start talking," Ayres said. Or "if they had an established illness, then I would do a physical exam to get to know them.

"Certainly when you do a complete physical exam, you listen to the heart and lungs and check the belly, and in the case of a boy you should check ... the testicles and scrotum," he said.

When asked whether all his patients agreed to the physical exam, Ayres said he never heard them say no, and sometimes it was hard to gauge their responses.

Ayres recognized the physical examinations may have been stressful for the patients and said he never conducted one without the patient's consent.

"I've never forced a child or intimidated a child," he said. "I never ordered a child to consent to a physical exam. Some children were very uncommunicative.

"It's meant to be positive and lead to more understanding of the child," Ayres said.

Sometimes, he said, he found what appeared to be self-inflicted cuts or track marks from drug use on his patients' bodies.

One man, Greg H., who was a patient of Ayres in the 1980s and whose claims fall outside the statute of limitations, told jurors that on his first visit Ayres asked him to remove his shirt and proceeded to check for track marks on his arms, even though Greg H. said there was no mention of a possible drug problem.

Greg H. said the doctor touched his genitals on more than one occasion and that it made him so uncomfortable he told his mother after several months that he never wanted to see Ayres again.

Greg H.'s testimony can only be used as evidence if the jury finds it credible.

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

Six witnesses have testified in the trial, and four other men whose claims fall outside the statute of limitations have also addressed the court, but it is up to the jurors whether their testimony can be used as evidence.

Ayres earned his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1956 and was president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from 1993 to 1995. He moved to the Bay Area with his wife in 1963.

He said Wednesday that he treated thousands of patients and conducted tens of thousands of sessions while practicing psychiatry, and that he didn't recognize any of the witnesses who testified against him in the trial.

Weinberg said during opening statements that the alleged victims' 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—years after the alleged molestations took place.

McKowan, however, has said the witnesses' accounts are accurate and credible.

Ayres' testimony is expected to continue Thursday.

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