Cover of "Coming of Age"—a book found in Ayres' filesA minor speedbump was averted in the Redwood City courtroom today when a motion by Dorn Weinberg to have evidence excluded was denied.
Weinberg wanted the testimony of one victim disallowed because (so says Wineberg) that what happened to the youngster was not groping—the victim is prepared to testify that the good doctor stood behind him and used the "back of his hand" to grope him.
Definition of grope: Pronunciation: \ˈgrōp\ Function: verb Inflected Form(s): groped; grop·ing Etymology: Middle English, from Old English grāpian; akin to Old English grīpan to seize Date: before 12th century intransitive verb 1 : to feel about blindly or uncertainly in search (grope for the light switch) 2 : to look for something blindly or uncertainly (grope for the right words) 3 : to feel one's way transitive verb 1 : feel up 2 : to find (as one's way) by groping.
As I wrote on the William Ayres Watch blog comments, I don’t see anywhere that groping means palm toward the object/item being groped. Nor can I in all of my years of practice as an RN recall a physician giving a physical exam with the back of his hand …
Later in the day, the prosecution moved to have three illustrated books that were found in Ayres’ storage locker introduced into evidence. The books are thought to be antique medical or pseudo-medical books. One book is called “The Sex Book” and has a picture of naked children on the cover. Certainly the defense will go nuts over this one!
Jury selection resumes tomorrow. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Tuesday, June 23. There is no new news regarding the banishment of reporter Victoria Balfour, who was instrumental in getting victims to come forward in this case, from the courtroom.
Please check out the William Ayres Watch blog, and its most recent entry.
Week 3, Day 1 - Weinberg Attempts to Split Hairs on "Groping"
Posts
46 comments:
Thanks for the update:
San Mateo County Times:
Lawyers in Ayres trial argue over admissibility of books showing Nude Boys:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_12596949
Ayres is cooked.
There is an article in the San Mateo Times as well.
I really feel for the victims. It appears this case has taken a turn for the worse.
Ayres is one sick pervert who was allowed to continue molesting kids because no one did anything.
I am just appalled at the latest developments.
Regarding Victoria Balfour, the journalist, it appears she was the focus of Weinberg's hostility.
Now, it appears he has a more serious setback for this case.
Is recovery possible? On the William Ayres Watchdog site there is a photo of the book cover.
As a juror, I would throw my cards down on the table in the guilty pile on that....plus all the other testimony.
Game over, get out a very large orange jumpsuit!
Even more damning description from www.williamayreswatch.blogspot.com:
Of the two hardcover books, one had a blank red cover, and the other a white cover, apparently the one with the white cover has a picture on the front of young naked children. The manila envelope was described as containing pictures of boys "aged 12-16" in a locker room situation. To paraphrase and summarize the statements that the officers present used to describe the contents of the books: the books had pictures of naked young boys in pornographic “sexual poses.”
Great job CaliGirl9!
With the latest revelation that Ayres allegedly had child pornography in his possession, it's my opinion his goose it cooked.
One of the books Ayres had in his files was a photo book called Coming of Age. It shows naked boys posing It is not child porn per se. However, it's on the recommended list on a site called Boylinks,which bills itself as "The Internet's most comprehensive listing
of boy-related and boylove websites"
this pervert should have been locked away a 1/2 century ago.
FWIW, I think there is a medical test using the back of the hand on your back. IIRC it is test on the rib cage or the lungs. It is done WAY ABOVE the privates. It is like a tap on the back, takes mere seconds. No need to be nude. I think I had a Tshirt on when my doc did it.
Hi Sproket of CaliGirl,
Can you please post a photo of the book cover with this post you can get the book cover off of the Amazon.com website?
I seem to recall Michael Jackson had a copy of that book, but it was not admitted into his trial.
Anyone else remember something like this?
With this latest evidence (books and photos) it would seem a "slam-dunk" case for the prosecution. I hope they don't mess it up!!!!! And, And--It is high time Victoria Balfour was re-admitted to the courtroom! She deserves to be there, as this case would have not come to fruition without her, and there is no way in H---Weinberg will want her as a witness!!
Look at what readers of Coming of Age are also reading, stuff like "Raw Youth." Ugh. No doubt the good doctor is also familiar with these books.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Age-Photographs-Will-McBride/dp/0893818534/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245170425&sr=1-2
From the Daily Telegraph, April 30, 2005
Jurors see Jackson's books of naked boys
By Catherine Elsworth in Santa Maria
Published: 12:01AM BST 30 Apr 2005
Books containing pictures of naked boys seized from Michael Jackson's bedroom were shown to jurors in his child abuse trial yesterday as evidence of the singer's "prurient interest in adolescent boys".
One, a 1966 hardback book of pictorial essays entitled Boys Will Be Boys, had on its cover tanned, blond boys leaping into a swimming pool, and contained photographs of clothed and naked boys swimming, jumping and playing.
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Pictures in the other, The Boy: A Photographic Essay, were described as "90 per cent nude boys".
The books were taken from a filing cabinet in the star's room during a police raid in August 1993 linked to previous allegations that Jackson was abusing a 13-year-old boy.
Before the books were admitted as evidence, the defence argued that they be excluded, describing them as "just plain stale". But Rodney Melville, the trial judge, allowed them to be shown, saying some of the photographs "could be determined to be sexually explicit".
Thanks, I think people will really get a sense of what we are talking about now!
Thank for posting that.
That is not a medical book. I am sure it was for Ayres own personal use.....he wasn't allowed to have that on the coffee table at home!
Some of his guests would have woofed their cookies.
Not mention his wife Solveig would say "why you gotta have that book Billie?"
While she was out singing in the choir Ayres was locked in the bathroom.....ewwwh
I can picture Nancy Grace getting on that one.....
That book is icky if you are not into that sort of thing.
Whiney should stop splitting hairs over groping, with this book he better move to Plan B. In the Spector case did he ever have two attorneys? A woman was in court yesterday.....how much per hour? Why all of the sudden two possible defense attorneys for Ayres?
The book????
Again, the woman is most likely his para-legal, Susan Mattross; not another attorney.
On the Ayres watch blog, the very wise Deep Sounding points out that the definition of pornography isn’t at all cut and dried.
One can argue that photographs and drawings of nude humans is high art. If that’s the case, treat the book as such.
In Ayres’ case, given what he has been accused of by multiple former patients, all male, the possession of those books, and the way they were stored (in a file cabinet, not a bookshelf) is highly suspect.
As I said in a post on that board, I have a copy of the Kama Sutra. It’s on a bookshelf next to some medical and nursing textbooks. Perfectly normal and legal. However, if I kept the book in a hidden sex dungeon, that is another story.
(And NO, I do NOT have a sex dungeon, hidden or otherwise!)
I agree if the books are so artsy, and they well may be, then just say so Weinberg! On public television they had a nun who would visit famous pieces of art, many nudes included, and this was a very intresting program on PBS. In classes many times models will disrobe to be sketched and they end result can be very interesting, in some cases artists chose to emphasize the muscles etc.
What happened here though is Weinberg has gone and made a big deal about these which has emphasized and projected his own view on the subject matter in these books.
I agree with CaliGirl9 that had the books been on a shelf with other pediatric care manuels, psychotherapy models and clinical materials they would not have been so inflammatory to the case.
One book as described was stuffed in an envelope as if it were not a prized and valued possession but to be used, hidden away etc.
Dr. Ayres tried to be the educator early on about kids and sex with his PBS series, If he has nothing to hide about being so revolutionary why so much a do about these books.
Another man who savored pics of nude boys was Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts! nndb.com and wikipedia have some info on this repressed gay or bi-sexual man, who was chaste with his young charges. According to the above sources, he favored reading Mein Kempf and supported Mussolini.
I wonder if para-legal Ms. Mattross feels like she needs a long shower after a day sitting next to these sundry creeps.
What's delicious about this discovery of the books is that it came about because Whineberg complained in May that he was missing three files of the victims. With the victims' written permission, the police went back to look for the missing files and lo and behold - they found the books that show nude boys in the locker room!!Whiney must be kicking himself over that move. Ayres must have been wondering for the last three years why the photo books hadn't been brought into evidence.
Divine intervention... Be careful what you ask for Whineberg. What's next.. a cache of hard core child porn? You just KNOW that Ayres has got that stashed away in a secret place that the police haven't found. Maybe when Solveig is doing her glee club thing he's making secret trips to his cache. Many believe that he has shared photos with other pervs, perhaps other doctors and government officials.
What can Ayres' wife be thinking now? Does she not know that most heterosexual adult men do not collect books like this? Has she looked on amazon.com to see what kinds of men are reading this book, and the other kinds of books they are looking at "Raw Youth"- "Jagged Youth" with photos of young men pulling their pants down? How can she sit next to this perv day after day after day? What kind of universe is she in? Why is she so afraid to accept that she's married to a pedophile?
i am a very, very liberal male. i find the cover of the book borderline porn. i can only imagine (well, i don't want to think about it) what is on the inside of the book.
if he touched my son, i would have to kill him with my gloved hands.
That's the difference between liberals and conservatives... I'd never wear gloves while I was crushing the life out of him.
[wink]
I am only glad the man is being prosecuted and hope that justice is done, whatever that means.
Everyone who is exposed to what he has done is being polluted in some way. It is sad for the boy on the cover of the book just as much as sad for any of the other victims who continue to realize that they have been abused, and that this has had an impact on their entire life and outlook.
Even Weinberg must be feeling the effects of the creepiness of all this.
I think that's why Weinberg brought in his assistant to sit between himself and the doctor. Couldn't bear to be next to him anymore.
I think Weinberg is ruing the day he ever took this case.
One word just keeps crossing my mind......icky. I know there are better words, smarter more grown up words.....
According to some commentary going on on the San Mateo Daily Journal, splitting hairs over the word "groping" is nothing, this book has sparred more debate than Prop 8! Is it porn? Is it art? Some don't want the link to the contents of the book published. It is for sale at Amazon but no parental warning. Wow, if this book gets in as evidence it is not the word groping Whiney should have feared. This book will hands down sink his case beyond repair.
To Conservative Incognito Guy...
at least we agree that this guy is disgusting. anyway, i probably would not take the time to use gloves either. ;-)
The decision about allowing the jury to see ayres’ collection of underage nude boy photos should be made in court today, and Jury has been sworn, 12 jurors 4 alternates.
Jury has been picked. Opening arguments for June 23, 2009. Judge will decide today whether to keep in books of nude boys.
From Michael Stogner, posted at the the smdailyjournal forums:
Books not allowed
The Defense motion to suppress the three books that were found by the San Mateo Police Department in the file cabinets of Dr. William Ayres this last month, has been granted.The books are not in the trial.
Defense motion to suppress evidence the three books found in william ayres file cabinet has been granted.
The books are not in the trial
I think the police were twisting their stories here. They don't sound like the brightest bulbs in this case.
Weinberg is quoted as saying the "books aren't relevant." ??????? Of course they are. That's why he fought to keep them out.
The books thing could present a real problem, you know, art vs. porn, etc. probably just as well, I suspect there is more than enough evidence as it is. The amount of time Whineburg could waste on those books.....
I would be interested in seeing Victoria Balfour get back into the courtroom. What gives with McKowan being so hostile to the idea? Has the San Mateo District Attorney's office forgotten that had it not been for Balfour, they wouldn't even be trying this case?
According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, one of the jurors already picked has dropped out.:
At least one of the primary jurors will be replaced after alerting the court she spoke with her spiritual advisor and no longer thinks she can hand down a judgment on another person.
- oh, those wacky Californians.
http://www.williamayreswatch.blogspot.com/ has a new post called "Where in the World is Victoria Balfour?" - about her being barred from the courtroom.
San Mateo Daily Journal Community Forum has just deleted the Dr. William Ayres Arrested blog.
Michael G. Stogner
New thread on Daily Journal has just begun.
For the most up-to-date coverage, www.williamayreswatch.blogspot. com has all the latest.
San Mateo Daily Journal Forum has been closed temporarily for a week or two.
Best source for case is www.williamayreswatch.blogspot.com
Today's the day. Opening arguments. Wonder how the good doctor slept last night.
Maybe the good doctor read his pedophile books for a little relaxtion before he went nighty nite.
I bet he didn't lose a wink....
Folks as you know opening statements began in the William Hamilton Ayres trial this morning. Victoria Balfour the journalist who researched and worked on the case filed a motion via her attorney to attend the public trial as a member of the press. However, after an apparent meeting in Judge Freeman’s court chambers, Ayres attorney (Doron Weinberg) served Victoria Balfour with an official subpoena!
The details are sketchy as to the dates of the subpoena at this time. Risky at best Victoria Balfour has not been deposed, will she take the 5th?
As far as we know Victoria is attending the opening statements at this very moment. When in the history of San Mateo has our local newspaper the San Mateo Daily Journal shut down its forum for comments due to this highly charged case?
Members of the press and media are present for today's opening statements according to attendees of today's gala.
First, no pedophile material, no journalist........uhm....
FROM THE AFTERNOON EDITION OF THE SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES
Opening statements in trial of accused child molester Dr. William Ayres
1. By Elizabeth Pfeffer
San Mateo County Times
Posted: 06/23/2009 01:51:11 PM PDT
Updated: 06/23/2009 02:28:13 PM PDT
REDWOOD CITY — Opening statements began this morning in the long-awaited trial of accused child molester Dr. William Ayres.
Ayres, 77, practiced child psychiatry in San Mateo County for 40 years before a police investigation produced more than two dozen former male patients claiming the doctor sexually abused them as children.
Prosecutor Melissa McKowan told a San Mateo County Superior Court jury this morning that Ayres touched his patients inappropriately during physical exams. In many circumstances, Ayres would touch the preadolescent patients' genitals and forego all other elements of the exam, she said.
"He simply began to touch, fondle, molest or masturbate (the patients)," said McKowan, who told the jury she would call other psychiatrists as witnesses to say that physical exams are not a common practice in their profession.
Defense attorney Doron Weinberg said that, although the jury will hear from alleged victims who claim the doctor molested them, those charges are false.
"It's not true," Weinberg said. "He does not molest patients."
Ayres faces 10 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14 on behalf of six alleged victims who were 9 to 13 years old at the time they say they were abused.
Additional testimony will come from parents, police officers and four other men who say they were molested but whose cases fall outside the state's statute of limitations. Prosecutors say they know of more than 30 victims who were unable to file criminal charges under the statute.
Ayres had faced 20 felony molestation charges, but in the final hour a seventh alleged victim pulled out of the trial.
"These are really emotional difficult cases to go through, and he just doesn't feel he can go through with it," Assistant District Attorney Karen Guidotti said outside the courtroom during a break.
Guidotti said the loss of this witness could reduce Ayres' sentence by 20 years if he is found guilty.
Judge Beth Freeman released one juror based on her belief that she improperly discussed the case out of court. The juror had requested her release for other reasons, citing a religious conflict and financial concerns due to her husband's recent layoff from work.
Another female juror was appointed and sworn in, rounding out the jury of 10 women and two men, with five alternates.
The trial resumed this afternoon with the continuation of Weinberg's opening statement.
Victoria Balfour is tenacious. And thank God--because it's really mostly her tenacity that has gotten this case to where it is.
If you want to see Victoria Balfour speak to the reporter from ABC news there is a good video at:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6880004
You just have to wait until they show the pedophile beast in the first part of the video.....
No pedophile material, No Journalist, San Mateo Daily Journal Community Forum goes blank the day before opening statements and don't forget No Cameras for the News Media left standing. Vic lee did his best to get his cameraman in. He offered Hon. Judge Beth Freeman a chance to reconsider her first ruling on his camera request. He said in light of what just happened, meaning you throwing Victoria Balfour out of the court room. She thought about it and said that this trial is not any more important than any other trial. it would be interesting to see if she has ever allowed the camera in her court?
I couldn't help feeling that I was listening to a victim today.
Best of luck to all victims and family and loved ones
Michael G. Stogner
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