ARTICLES

Not A Pleasant Guy

Activist Calls Bush Appointee Pro-Homosexual

BY MARIA KENNEDY

In an unusual move, the Bush White House on July 16, 2002 appointed San Francisco superior court judge Kevin Vincent Ryan to the post of interim U.S. attorney for the northern district of California. This action is raising questions because the office already has an interim U.S. attorney, David Shapiro. Perhaps because Ryan has been the subject of controversy, the Bush administration is trying to keep a low profile on Ryan's appointment.

Peter Paul Verzola, a San Francisco activist familiar with Ryan, has been trying to point out to the Bush administration the problems surrounding Ryan. Verzola, who calls himself a moderate Republican, has worked on a number of issues, including accountability for affordable housing, the reception of benefits by illegal aliens, the molestation problem in Catholic and private schools, and judicial corruption. In spite of scores of calls and faxes warning of Judge Ryan, no one in Washington seems to be concerned that Ryan may be a political liability for Bush, who touts himself as pro-family. Ryan is not pro-family, charges Verzola. In fact, he says that Ryan has facilitated the homosexual agenda in San Francisco.

The controversy surrounding Ryan stems in part from allegations of judicial misconduct during a 1996 murder trial over which Ryan presided. The trial involved a young sailor, Steven Nary II, who while drunk had been sexually accosted by a homosexual, Juan Pifarre. Nary unintentionally killed Pifarre during a scuffle that ensued between the two at Pifarre's San Francisco apartment when Pifarre tried to perform sexual acts on Nary.

Nary had met the 53-year-old Pifarre at a North Beach bar. Having had too much to drink, Nary accepted the offer of a ride from Pifarre back to Nary's home ship, the U.S.S. Carl Vinson. Instead of being driven to the ship, Nary was taken to Pifarre's apartment where Pifarre tried to engage Nary in homosexual acts. While newspaper accounts of what happened that night vary, most agree that Nary may have had oral sex with Pifarre "because he was drunk," as Nary's defense lawyer said at the trial. Nary then fell asleep. The next thing Nary said he remembered was Pifarre standing over him trying to engage him in anal sex. When Nary resisted, a scuffle ensued in which Nary broke his hand and then, trying to fend Pifarre off, struck him with a shower curtain rod. After Pifarre passed out, Nary left the apartment, assuming, he claimed, that his opponent was unconscious. Later, Nary called the San Francisco police and told them what had happened and voiced his concern for Pifarre. Later, police came aboard the ship and arrested Nary for the murder of Pifarre, who had died as a result of the scuffle.

Verzola said he had known of Pifarre before the 1996 murder case. Verzola was doing legal reseach on HUD and he had started a project called the American Military Poverty Law project. According to a curriculum vitae for Verzola found at http://home.earthlink.net/~veritasusa/verzola_bio.htm, Pifarre, "a competent financial analyst, whose family was connected to the Bank of Argentina," had been involved in HUD and real estate graft. It is also charged that Pifarre had been part of a gay La Raza group who were accused of vandalizing houses in the Castro district. When Verzola said he learned of and researched the Nary case, he decided that Nary had been framed. Verzola said his homosexual friends told him that the Nary was going to be railroaded in court.

According to Verzola, the fact that the prosecution in the court case did not secure Nary's release from the Navy or from the state of California prior to arresting him and that Ryan as presiding judge over the case did not question this shows that Ryan is willing to ignore the law. Verzola contends that military personnel are subject to the universal code of military justice, which dictates that before armed services personnel can be tried in a civilian court, the armed services must release the recruit to the civilian court. Verzola points out that San Francisco district attorney, Terrance Hallinan, never secured Nary's release from the Navy. Instead, the 18-year-old was arrested and forcibly interrogated by police in the middle of the night. Verzola also contends that the district attorney's office later falsified a release for Nary. Verzola contacted Republican congressman Marion Berry (from Arkansas, where Nary's mother lives) and asked him to help the young sailor. A staffer in Berry's office told this reporter that the reason that Nary was arrested by civilian law enforcement without proper permission from the state or the United States Navy was that the ship was docked.

Nary's mother, Edith, told me that Nary was charged with second-degree murder, although his defense lawyer thought "the most he would get was involuntary manslaughter." Edith says that her son did not get a fair trial in San Francisco, an area with a large homosexual population. "I kept asking if the trial could be moved elsewhere, but nobody would give me any answers." Edith Nary also says that the extensive pre-trial publicity that her son's story generated also contributed to him not getting a fair trial. "My son was tried by the media," she said.

Verzola said that, at Nary's trial, Judge Ryan "concealed a lot of information that I had given him. Ryan was very arrogant at the trial. When I was called as a witness, I told Ryan that he didn't have jurisdiction over Nary, and I quoted the code section that showed he did not have jurisdiction. In the court file was a copy of a tape, 'How to Seduce Young Military Recruits,' which is produced by a company out of San Diego. This company is connected to the Palladium in San Francisco, where Nary met Pifarre. Homosexuals would gather and meet young men there and the place had a reputation that it lured homosexual predators. I [petitioned the court] to remove the case to federal court." When Verzola petitioned the federal court to review the state case on June 25, 1999, the tape was included in the federal file. (The federal court, to date, has not reviewed the case.) But the tape disappeared from the state file. "When the state court was served by mail with the tape," said Verzola, "the clerk thought it was a bomb and they called in the bomb squad. They emptied the building, and at that point the tape disappeared."

"In California," continued Verzola, "the parties in a rape case have a right to know the HIV status of the perpetrator. Pifarre was HIV positive. I brought this up in a written document to the court, but Ryan ignored it. Ryan also ignored the fact that the DA falsified a document which allowed a civilian court to prosecute Nary. Ryan lied about Nary getting a habeas corpus hearing." Verzola noted that "when a prisoner files a habeas corpus he is supposed to have a full separate hearing"; but, said Verzola, Nary never had one.

Verzola also charges that Ryan ignored the conditions of Nary's confinement, "that he was denied fresh air, sunshine and treatment of a broken hand. Furthermore, Nary had to remove his own cast because the San Francisco sheriff's department denied him medical treatment."

Verzola sees a clear homosexual bias in the San Francisco sheriffs department, which arrested Nary, and in Judge Ryan. "Mike Hennesey, the San Francisco sheriff, has run on the platform that he was the 'gayest official in the country,'" said Verzola. "He is known for actively recruiting homosexuals to join the sheriffs department. When Ryan ran for the [superior court] bench [in 1998], he took out ads in pro-homosexual newspapers trying to garner the homosexual vote."

One source I spoke to, who asked to remain anonymous, said that he and his partner had lived in the same building as Pifarre. "There was a lot of S&M [sadomasochism] going on in Pifarre's apartment," said the source. "He [Pifarre] liked to pick up military recruits. I once saw a sailor there who was very drunk. Juan was not a pleasant guy." This source noted that Pifarre was well liked by the San Francisco district attorney's office. "The prosecutor was very much on Juan's side," the source offered, because the district attorney was sympathetic to the homosexual agenda.

A February 20, 1987 story in the San Jose Mercury News cites how almost a decade before the Nary incident, Pifarre had been arrested by San Jose police on suspicion of either soliciting or committing a lewd act and for indecent exposure in public. The arrest garnered media attention in part because Pifarre was San Jose's Affirmative Action officer. Pifarre was fined $200 and given three years probation. According to Verzola, Ryan did not allow this incident to be introduced at Nary's trial.

According to Verzola, Judge Ryan acted improperly when he allowed Pifarre's supporters to wear badges that said, "Stop homophobia/Immigrant bashing" inside the court room in full view of the jury. Verzola said that Ryan also should have recused himself from the trial because of his political ties to the prosecutor's office. In 1998, Ryan gave Hallinan a $100 campaign contribution. Verzola added that Ryan did not allow Pifarre's previous sexual attacks on young men to be used in Nary's defense, including one where Pifarre had attacked someone in San Jose. Pifarre's past sexual attacks, his penchant for military recruits and his sexual behavior, Verzola contends, should have been allowed in court so that the jury could see that Nary was merely trying to fend off his attacker. Verzola says that Ryan has too many ties to the San Francisco homosexual community and allowing this evidence would have infuriated his homosexual supporters.

Verzola contends that it was impossible for Nary to receive a fair trial in such a courtroom. During the trial, Verzola notes, Ryan took the jury to lunch and invited the courtroom audience and members of the media to join them.

Ryan's law school alma mater, the Jesuit University of San Francisco, would not comment on the Ryan nomination or appointment to the U.S. attorney's office. When questioned, a University of San Francisco press secretary said that the university did not issue a press release when Ryan was nominated. The dean of the university's law school did not return a call for comment.

In spite of his efforts, Verzola has not been successful in having Ryan's actions reviewed. Verzola lodged a complaint against Ryan with the Commission on Judicial Performance but was not successful in obtaining an answer. This commission, which consists of judges, lawyers, and laymen, is a state agency charged with overseeing judges in Calffornia. A call to the commission produced a "decline to comment" from ACLU's Ramona Ripston who sits on the commission. In addition, calling various White House offices, said Verzola, has been futile; no one is willing to comment on the concerns Verzola is raising. Verzola also states that he is not successful in getting the White House's chief of staff, Andrew Card, to take notice of the issues he is raising about Ryan.

In the meantime, Nary remains at Pleasant Valley State prison in Coalinga, having been sentenced on October 28, 1999 to sixteen years to life in state prison. According to his mother, Steven works in the prison library and "is doing well, everything considered."

On May 29, 2002, Nary filed a petition in federal court to vacate Judge Ryan's sentence. Among other charges made by Verzola, Nary in his petition cites the use of inflammatory photos by the prosecution and that his conviction was obtained by a coerced confession and by evidence gained through an unconstitutional search and seizure. Nary also states that he had inadequate counsel. According to Verzola, Nary's attorney did not adequately represent him but instead wanted to plea bargain the case away.

Neither the California state attorney general's office nor the San Francisco district attorney's office returned calls for comment.

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