Medical exams administered by a prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist now accused of molesting six former patients were a “ruse designed by a pedophile” to inappropriately touch the young boys in his care, a prosecutor told jurors yesterday in the long-awaited trial of Dr. William Hamilton Ayres.

The six alleged victims, now men, and four others whose cases fall outside the statute of limitations do not know each other but will tell jurors about treatment that included nude exams, touching of the genitals and a lack of privacy safeguards like a drape or screen behind which to change, prosecutors Melissa McKowan told jurors during opening statements.

These consistencies illustrate the men’s credibility and prove Ayres was not simply a medical doctor aiding his psychiatric care with allowed physical exams, she argued.

The former patients may have been unhappy with the physical exams but they were young boys with “significant emotional problems” who had a false memory or feeling triggered by their individual case, defense attorney Doron Weinberg countered. When contacted by police as adults, these witnesses were led by a series of posed questions and memories hampered by a 13- to 30-year passage of time.

“The allegations against him are wrong,” Weinberg said, later calling them also “misconceived.”

Ayres, 77, is charged with 10 counts of lewd and lascivious activity against a child under age 14 stemming from six alleged victims aged 9 to 13 between 1988 and 1996. He was originally charged with 20 counts linked to seven victims but the complaint was changed without explanation prior to opening statements.

The prosecution has long held that Ayres abused dozens and dozens of former patients over the course of 30 years but the statute of limitations prevents criminal charges before 1988. Instead, four of those men, including the person who filed the 2002 police complaint which started the investigation, will testify for the prosecution to prove Ayres’ alleged propensity to offend.

‘Lightning rod’

McKowan focused on brief sketches of each alleged victim — first name, reported number of exams and touching, age, why he was sent to Ayres — during her opening remarks. Weinberg asked jurors to consider Ayres’ life in total and how his controversial advocacy of open sex education left him a “lightening rod for protest” and “vulnerable to accusations of sexual impropriety.”

Ayres, the former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and renowned for his work, is a “dedicated and skilled professional” who made no secret his position that physical exams can be used in conjunction with psychiatric work, Weinberg said.

Some mental conditions such as attention deficit disorder can also have a physical component, he said.

Ayres has maintained his innocence but did settle a civil suit in 2005 with a patient not included in the criminal case. News coverage of that suit by Steven Abrams led to Thomas C. (All alleged victims aside from Steven Abrams are identified in court only by their first name and last initial) calling San Mateo police that August but his case, too, was too old. San Mateo police Capt. Mike Callagy, spurred by those two cases and another in 1987 by Greg H., took the “extraordinary step” of obtaining a search warrant for Ayres’ home, business and storage locker because he was still practicing medicine, McKowan said. Information from 800 patient files seized in March 2006 led to three victims ages 9 to 12 that fell within the statute and subsequent publicity drew out dozens more. Four from that batch were also charged.

Ayres’ medical license was suspended and he was ultimately arrested. In a “freak coincidence,” McKowan said, one of Ayres’ alleged victims saw Ayres at the courthouse during his arraignment because he was in custody himself. The alleged victim, without benefit of newspapers or Internet while jailed, knew exactly why his former doctor was there, she said.

Others had even told therapists and loved ones about the touching before Ayres was ever arrested, McKowan said.

Yet Weinberg told jurors to consider that a number of the alleged victims never told anybody their allegations until they received a phone call from police. Calls, he said, that were based on a leading script and not recorded.

Red flags

McKowan told jurors she will call a child sexual abuse expert from the San Mateo Medical Center’s Keller Center to explain why abused children return to their abusers and don’t immediately tell. A San Francisco child psychiatry professor will testify about red flags in the former patient’s files.

Ayres listened to opening statements dressed in a dark blue suit as his wife and son sat behind him. A number of the alleged victims’ family members — fixtures at a number of previous court hearings in the case — filled the courtroom and at least one mother nodded along as McKowan told jurors how the boys were ordered by parents to behave and listen to the doctor during treatment.

The observers did not want to speak on the record about the case but all questioned echoed relief the trial is underway.

“Justice has been a long time coming,” said one woman.

Ayres remains free from custody on $750,000 cash bail. The prosecution continues its case today.

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