William Hamilton Ayres, 77, was a prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist who garnered national recognition for his controversial sex-education program and treated dozens of minors referred by schools and the justice system. He is charged with abusing seven former patients between 1991 and 1996 under the guise of medical examinations although the prosecution argues there are many more outside the statute of limitations. Ayres, who already settled one civil suit by a former patient, not included in the criminal case, has pleaded not guilty.

Ayres is expected to have his trial assigned a judge this morning followed by pre-trial motions and jury selection. The entire trial is estimated by the prosecution to last eight to 10 weeks.

The trial comes more than two years after Ayres was arrested in April 2007 — two years in which Ayres’ case was repeatedly postponed while his attorney, Doron Weinberg, represented convicted murderer and music producer Phil Spector and  during which his accusers questioned why what they believe is justice was so long in coming.

Accusations against Ayres have swirled since a former patient accused him of child abuse in 2003. Ayres settled the case in 2005 for an undisclosed sum and he was never charged criminally until a March 2006 search of his home and storage locker turned up hundreds of patient files. From those documents, authorities found three alleged victims — ages 9 to 12 at the time of their treatment — falling within the statute of limitations. The following publicity brought out another approximately 27 to 29 other victims, four of which also fell within the statute.

Ayres’ practice included private clients and referrals from both the juvenile justice system and school districts. He also became known as president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and for hosting the sex education series “Time of Your Life.” Ayres received juvenile court referrals up through 2004.

 San Mateo police first began looking at Ayres in 2002 after a former patient accused him of molestation during the 1970s when he was 13. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the statute of limitations nixed criminal prosecution, the victim and Ayres reached a confidential settlement in July 2005. In a deposition for the lawsuit, Ayres reportedly admitted conducting physical exams of patients as part of his care.

Shortly after his arrest, Ayres’ defense won his freedom from custody by convincing a judge to substantially lower his bail to $750,000. The prosecution won its own victory last year when Judge Norman Gatzert issued a 30-page opinion upholding the validity of a search warrant that turned up 800 former patient files in the doctor’s home storage locker, some of which led to the charges against Ayres. The warrant was a key decision in the Ayres case. If the document was tossed, so would be any charges directly stemming from the files it uncovered. Without those victims, the prosecution case is substantially weakened.

Weinberg had argued the warrant improperly invaded the confidentiality of patients without a compelling reason.  

During a 2007 preliminary hearing, the alleged victims did not take the stand but police officers testified about some of the former patients, detailing their ages, the time they saw Ayres and various recollections about their appointments and why they didn’t tell anyone about being asked to stand naked or being touched inappropriately.

“They won’t believe you because I’m a doctor. They won’t believe a troubled teenager,” Officer Rick Decker testified one now-grown man recalled Ayres saying.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.