Medical Issue Delays Molestation Trial : Justice: Defendant Albert Timms, 86, has refused pacemaker surgery. A judge says he thinks the accused is trying to avoid going to court.

Albert Timms, a Ventura man who turns 86 today, needs a pacemaker to make sure his enlarged heart keeps beating, his doctor says.

But Timms has refused to undergo pacemaker surgery, which would do more than improve his health. It would also enable him to stand trial on child molestation charges.

At a hearing Monday, Ventura County Superior Court Judge James M. McNally said he believes Timms is staying sick so he can stay free.

“I think Mr. Timms . . . is risking his own life to avoid coming to trial,” McNally said.

Timms’ attorney denied that his client is trying to avoid trial.

“Absolutely not,” attorney James M. Farley said outside court. Rather, the attorney said, “at age 86, I’m not sure he wants anyone cutting into him” to insert a pacemaker.

In any case, McNally said he is not willing to risk “a serious medical event like a stroke or heart attack” by forcing Timms to stand trial in his current condition. The judge granted Timms’ request for another two-month delay in his trial, which has already been postponed several times since his arrest last summer.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary K. Barrett told the judge that the longer the case drags on, the harder it will be to get a conviction because the recollections of the alleged victims will fade.

McNally said he agreed that the delays “may ultimately kill the case.”

Meanwhile, Timms remains free on $20,000 bail pending a hearing May 27 to review his condition.

Timms is accused of seven counts of molestation involving three girls from 1987 to 1989. At the time, the girls were between 4 and 10 years old.

In addition, he faces special allegations that the molestations involved substantial sexual conduct and that he occupied a position of trust. If convicted of a special allegation, Timms would face a minimum mandatory prison term of three years.

Timms used a wheelchair to attend his court appearance Monday, his legs straddling a small oxygen tank that was connected to his nostrils by a plastic tube.

“He’s a sick man,” defense attorney Farley said outside court. “The doctor says a pacemaker may improve his condition, but it’s invasive surgery. He doesn’t have to have it if he doesn’t want it.”

At a hearing Jan. 28, Ventura cardiologist Dennis L. Brooks testified that Timms has an enlarged heart and shows signs of having had a heart attack.

“There is definitely potential for a life-threatening event” if Timms has to stand trial, said Brooks, who was appointed by the court to examine the defendant.

Asked by McNally whether Timms was likely to drop dead during trial, the heart specialist said no.

“But there’s enough of a potential that I could not guarantee that he would not,” Brooks said. He estimated the chances of a heart attack during trial at 1% to 5%.

If Timms had the pacemaker inserted, Brooks testified, the risk of a heart attack would drop to less than 1%. And the risk involved in inserting the device is “very, very small,” Brooks said.

Outside court Monday, prosecutor Barrett said the judge could set a trial date and let Timms decide whether to get the pacemaker, risk attending the trial without the surgery, or not attend the trial.

If Timms failed to show up at trial, the judge could find that there was good cause to proceed without him, Barrett said.

“Obviously, it’s an unusual situation we’re in right now,” Barrett said. “The court has to balance . . . the victims’ rights with the right of the defendant to be physically able to be present to assist in his own defense.”

In weighing those concerns, Barrett said, the judge must “keep in mind that the defendant may or may not be doing everything in his own power to make himself more available medically for trial.”

At the hearing in January, McNally said the state has conflicting interests in the case.

“The state has an interest, a very strong interest, in prosecuting that crime,” the judge said. “. . .The state also has an interest in not killing somebody by the mere act of bringing him to trial.”