Toddler Gets Her Own Attorney in Wayne-Gionis Dispute

Anastasia Pilar Gionis, the 2-year-old girl at the center of the custody battle between Aissa Wayne and Thomas Gionis, on Thursday was assigned her own lawyer to protect her interests.

Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Owen also named an independent psychologist to try to sort out wildly conflicting reports about the child’s current well-being and agreed to reopen her parents’ bitter custody hearing in light of recent criminal charges against Gionis.

Owen, who earlier this year gave Gionis custody of the child, said the criminal charges against the Pomona surgeon in connection with last October’s attack on Wayne raise “some strong suspicion that the doctor’s moral character is not what is should be.”

Gionis, interrupting the judge’s remarks as his lawyers tried to quiet him, shot back: “This is via the newspapers.”

Until Gionis’ arrest last month, the question of Anastasia’s custody had finally seemed settled.

In January, after a lengthy and often emotional trial, Owen announced his intention to award custody of film legend John Wayne’s granddaughter to Gionis--in part because the judge found that Aissa Wayne was “emotionally immature” and lacked a proper commitment to parenting.

But on April 4, Gionis was arrested on charges of masterminding an attack last October on Wayne and companion Roger Luby at Luby’s Newport Beach estate.

Because of Gionis’ incarceration, Owen gave Wayne temporary custody of the child, allowing Gionis about 8 days of monitored visitation a month after his release from jail on bail.

And on Thursday, Owen agreed to reopen the custody battle altogether, a move that Wayne later described as “a victory.”

Gionis’ attorney, Ronald Cordova, said that his client has not been found guilty of anything and that there is no reason to reopen the custody case because the issues were thoroughly discussed at last year’s trial.

But Owen, while acknowledging that Gionis has not yet been tried, told the surgeon that “theoretically, your moral character would be somewhat of an issue if all these (allegations) are true.”

The judge put off setting a hearing to determine permanent custody until Gionis’ criminal case is resolved. Gionis has been ordered to stand trial in Superior Court, but no date has been set.

In the meantime, Owen appointed Irvine psychologist W. Russell Johnson to examine Anastasia and report to him before a June 15 court hearing to review Anastasia’s temporary custody.

In advance of Thursday’s hearing in Santa Ana, each side had offered the judge conflicting expert testimony about Anastasia’s current state under the temporary care of her mother. One side depicted the girl as headed for “the insane asylum,” the judge said, and the other depicted “the happiest little girl in the state of California.”

“I’m worried more about the child than I am about either one of you,” the judge told her parents.

The judge also agreed with a proposal by Gionis’ attorney that the court appoint an independent counsel to represent Anastasia’s interests in the ongoing dispute.

Wayne’s attorney, E. Robert Lemkin, opposed the motion, telling the judge that “enough of a circus atmosphere” already exists without yet another lawyer.

The judge overrode him, appointing attorney Judi A. Curtin to be the child’s counsel.

Also at the hearing, Owen ordered Gionis to give Wayne’s attorneys financial records that she charges may show Gionis spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from a community trust fund for his own personal use.