VENTURA : Trial Ordered for Molestation Suspect

An Aug. 16 trial date was set Friday for an 86-year-old Ventura man whose poor health has delayed his child molestation trial for a year.

Superior Court Judge James M. McNally ruled that--based upon medical reports and his observation of the defendant in court--Albert L. Timms can withstand the rigors of trial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson, who had urged McNally to reverse a February ruling that Timms was too ill for trial, said she was pleased the defendant finally will have to face the charges against him.

“He has a chronic condition of the elderly, and if he doesn’t stand trial it’s not going to get better,” Nelson said. “Obviously, if something acute does come up (during the trial), we’ll stop. We’re not trying to kill him.”

Timms is accused of molesting three girls under 10 years old between 1987 and 1989 at his home. The defendant, who had won nearly a dozen continuances in his year-old case, usually appeared in court in a wheelchair and hooked up to an oxygen tank.

During the hearing to determine whether Timms was well enough to withstand trial, Nelson produced a variety of witnesses, including a woman who said she was a former prostitute and had sex with Timms approximately once a month until she moved out of his home several weeks ago.

Defense attorney James M. Farley said after the hearing that he believes Timms will collapse during the trial, which is scheduled to last five or six days.

“We’re not playing a game--the guy is sick,” Farley said.

A doctor has testified that a pacemaker would improve the defendant’s health, but Timms refused to have a pacemaker implanted, and McNally has said he could not order Timms to have the operation.