Gionis Ordered to Trial in Wayne Attack, Freed on Bail

Dr. Thomas A. Gionis was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of attacking his ex-wife, John Wayne’s daughter, Aissa, after a judge decided that authorities had enough evidence to link the orthopedic surgeon to two men who carried out the assault in Newport Beach last fall.

While Newport Beach Municipal Judge Susanne S. Shaw did set bail of $250,000 for Gionis over the strong objections of prosecutors, she offered a scathing summary of the evidence against the surgeon, concluding that he “snapped” as a result of a divorce and bitter battle over custody of the couple’s only child, 2-year-old Anastasia.

“You went off the deep end,” Shaw said to Gionis after a weeklong preliminary hearing in her courtroom.

Gionis, 35, of Pomona was released after the court hearing Friday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the Orange County Jail, where he had been held since his arrest April 4. “I feel fine,” said Gionis, smiling, after the court hearing. He declined further comment.

Gionis’ sister, Xanthi, 25, who manages the surgeon’s string of five Southland medical clinics, said her brother now will be able to resume his practice. She said that the surgeon is also booked through June for non-related court appearances as an expert medical witness.

Shaw set Gionis’ arraignment for May 5 in Orange County Superior Court. He is charged with conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon in the Oct. 3 assault on Wayne, 33, and her former boyfriend, financier Roger W. Luby, 53, at Luby’s gated Newport Beach estate.

Has Pleaded Not Guilty

Gionis has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyers have said he knew nothing about the attack.

Gionis’ lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, praised Shaw for setting bond in the case, although it was higher than the $50,000 he had requested.

“I think we got a fair shake,” Bailey said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans had asked for no bail and then a $5-million bail, but the judge announced during a hearing Friday that she had decided to allow Gionis’ release. Evans said, however, that he was generally pleased with the outcome of the hearing.

“She did her job,” Evans said of Shaw’s ruling that Gionis must stand trial. “She held him to answer.”

In setting bail, Shaw attached the unusual condition that Gionis receive weekly counseling by a psychiatrist or psychologist to help contain his emotions over the custody case.

She said that Gionis, who according to testimony spent $500,000 in legal fees to gain custody of his daughter, was obsessed with his “passion” for the child, leading him to commit the crime. Wayne has been awarded custody of the girl pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings against Gionis.

Called ‘Obsessed’

“Dr. Gionis, you are obsessed with losing your daughter, who is a beautiful child. Genetically, she is (looks like) you,” Shaw said, referring to a photograph that she had seen of the child. “The passion between you and the daughter is beyond description. In a strange sort of way, my heart goes out to you because I understand the intensity (with) which you love your daughter.”

Calling the case “a passion play,” Shaw chastised both Gionis and Wayne for failing to resolve differences and effectively raise Anastasia. Shaw said the girl will be the loser if the two don’t learn to get along.

“Sooner or later, you two are going to have to get your acts together and raise that child (or) that kid is going to be a basket case,” Shaw said to Gionis, who listened impassively.

Wayne was not immediately available for comment.

Shaw suggested that the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for Gionis occurred last August when, according to court testimony, Wayne violated a court visitation order and took Anastasia to Arizona for a 3-day vacation.

Neither parent was allowed at the time to take the child outside Orange or Los Angeles counties, pending a custody trial that was to start Sept. 29. The trial date was later changed to Nov. 29.

“In your mind, ‘that gal is stealing my child,’ ” Shaw said. “That put you over the brink. You were put into (emotional) overload,” Shaw contended. “You said, ‘I want to teach them (Wayne and Luby) a lesson. . . .’ ”

Luby Theory Rejected

Despite Bailey’s assertions that the attack was directed at Luby, not Wayne, Shaw said the court evidence shows that Gionis began arranging for the assault immediately after the Arizona trip.

She cited as evidence $40,000 in payments over a 2-week period made by Gionis to a private investigator, O. Daniel Gal, 32, of Beverly Hills, who is charged with hiring the men who carried out the attack. Gal, who conducted custody-related surveillance work for Gionis, had been paid only $22,000 in the 6 months before that, Shaw noted.

Gal is in custody in Switzerland and is to be extradited to California to face conspiracy charges in the case. Held in Orange County Jail are the men Gal allegedly hired: Jerrel L. Hintergardt, 37, an unemployed apartment manager from Burbank, and Jeffrey Kendall Bouey, 35, a swimming pool cleaner from Simi Valley. All three are being held on $1-million bail each.

Cites Phone Calls

Shaw said that further evidence of conspiracy comes from a series of telephone calls made between Gionis and Gal on the day of the attack, which, she said, shows that Gionis was intricately involved. The calls were documented through seizure of telephone records by Newport Beach police.

“Phone calls don’t lie,” the judge said. “They’re like fingerprints.”

Shaw warned Gionis not to take Anastasia and flee the country, as prosecutors allege he was preparing to do at the time of his arrest.

“You would not only make yourself a fugitive, you would make (the child) a fugitive,” Shaw said.

Shaw also offered some parting advice:

“I would hope, Dr. Gionis, that you get this experience behind you and get on with your life.”