Wayne Camp Gains Custody Ammunition

The charge that Pomona surgeon Thomas A. Gionis directed an attack on his former wife, Aissa Wayne, gives the film legend’s daughter powerful new ammunition to attempt to regain custody of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Anastasia, Wayne’s attorney and family-law experts said Wednesday.

Gionis was given sole custody of Anastasia in January when a Superior Court judge found that her mother was “emotionally immature” and spent little time with the girl.

Gionis, Judge Ronald E. Owen said, could better lead his daughter toward a “useful and productive future.”

But attorney E. Robert Lemkin, previewing a motion for a new custody hearing that he expects to file next week on Wayne’s behalf, said Wednesday that the conspiracy charges against Gionis belie his image as a stable and virtuous family man.

‘He Had the Judge Fooled’

Lemkin said of Gionis, who pleaded not guilty Wednesday: “He had the judge fooled. He had everybody fooled. . . . (These charges) far outweigh any of Aissa’s shortcomings as a parent.” But Gionis’ lawyer, George J. Stephan, asserted the doctor’s innocence in connection with the attack on Wayne and her financier boyfriend, Roger W. Luby. He said the criminal conspiracy charge against Gionis should have “no effect” on the emotional and prolonged custody dispute.

And specialists in family law stressed that a judge has broad discretion in determining what is in the “best interests” of a child and that criminal charges or convictions are not an automatic barrier to custody.

“Maybe a person could be a bank robber or an embezzler and still be a great parent,” said Jeri R. McKeand, who heads the family-law section of the Orange County Bar Assn.

Wayne’s Chances Bolstered

Nonetheless, McKeand and other lawyers specializing in family law agreed that the Newport Beach police investigation tying Gionis to the attack on Wayne and Luby greatly bolsters Wayne’s chances for gaining a new custody hearing and perhaps overturning Judge Owen’s decision.

Gionis stands accused of orchestrating the October attack, in which two assailants broke into Luby’s $3-million Newport Beach estate and assaulted Luby and Wayne. The assailants slashed Luby’s Achilles’ tendon and threatened them.

In March, police arrested two men who worked for a private investigations firm retained by Gionis. The attack’s motive, police believe, centers on the dispute between Gionis and Wayne over custody of their daughter.

Wayne declined to discuss what impact the criminal charges against her former husband might have on her effort to regain custody of Anastasia.

Fears Effect on Child

But she did say in an interview: “I’m just terribly worried about how this is going to affect my child’s environment. . . . This is going to hurt her worse than anyone else. She’s 2 years old. She doesn’t understand now, but later in life, it’s going to be pretty tough on her.”

Anastasia was in San Diego on Wednesday with Gionis’ parents, police said. Aissa Wayne was to assume custody Friday, one of the mother’s twice-monthly weekend visits. But Lemkin--Wayne’s attorney--said he may ask Judge Owen for temporary and immediate custody of the child if Gionis is held in jail following a bail hearing scheduled today.

Lemkin said he plans next week to ask Owen for a new custody hearing.

Beyond Gionis’ character, Lemkin said, the charges raise questions about O. Daniel Gal, a Los Angeles private detective for whom an arrest warrant has been issued. The last contact with Gal in the case was a telephone call from Europe.

Gal was a key witness against Wayne at her custody trial, testifying that he had kept Wayne under surveillance for weeks and had seen firsthand her lack of attention to the child, Lemkin said.

More Dramatic Twists Ahead

If Owen grants a request for a new custody hearing, it is likely to feature even more of the dramatic twists that have marked the dispute since its beginning in mid-1987.

Both sides have traded accusations. At the outset, Wayne accused Gionis of trying to kill her and of warning that “he would take the baby to another country” if he and Wayne broke up.

Last year, Gionis’ family countered with their own allegations that Wayne had harassed them and that one of her employees had pointed a loaded gun at Gionis’ mother when she had dropped off Anastasia one day.

And Gionis’ attorneys pointed to the October attack on Wayne as an example of the potentially dangerous environment in which Anastasia was being raised.

“It’s been a lot like a three-ring circus,” Lemkin said.