Psychiatrist's Wife To Testify

The wife of a prominent San Mateo psychiatrist who is accused of sexually molesting seven male patients in the early 1990s said today it was her husband who first raised concerns about his memory loss.

Solveig Ayres, who has been married to 79-year-old William Ayres for 49 years, testified in San Mateo County Superior Court that her husband has become increasingly forgetful and disoriented, failing to remember the simple entry code to the front door of their home or the meaning of the word 'biscuit.'

Testimony began Thursday morning in the trial to determine if Ayres is mentally competent to face nine counts of performing lewd acts with seven boys during psychiatric examinations that took place between 1991 and 1996. The defendant was tried once for the same charges in the summer of 2009, soon after which he complained to his wife that he feared his cognitive abilities were beginning to deteriorate.

"He said 'there's something wrong in my brain,'" Solvig said. Ayres' first trial ended in a hung jury when jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the nine counts. The district attorney's office decided in August 2009 to retry the case, but criminal proceedings were suspended when defense attorney Jonathan McDougall questioned in March 2010 whether his aging client would be competent enough to aid in his own defense.

Ayres has been diagnosed with form of dementia, which manifests in obvious and increasing signs of memory loss, such as forgetting his son's name or remembering anything about magazine articles he has only just finished reading, Solvig said.

"He reads all the time, but he never remembers what he reads," she said. "He'll read it all over again." Under cross examination, Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan asked Solvig if she was aware that if a jury found her husband incompetent, he could avoid a criminal trial and a jail sentence, and the couple could possibly live on together like before.

"It will never be like before," Solvig said. McKowan said in her opening statement that there was little doubt among court-appointed doctors and expert witnesses that Ayres suffers from a mild form of early-onset dementia - possibly even Alzheimer's disease - but that his mental defect does not render him unfit to face criminal charges.

Dr. Robert Telfer, a neurologist who examined Ayres beginning in August 2009, testified that the psychiatrist displayed impaired verbal and memory skills consistent with the early stages of Alzheimer's, but admitted that the defendant's spatial skills, executive functioning and thinking abilities appeared to remain intact. In a competency trial, the defense must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is mentally unfit to aid in his own trial. Testimony is scheduled to continue Monday morning.

-Bay City News