Dismissals for Four in McMartin Case Sought; Error Cited

Four defense attorneys in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case asked the court Tuesday to dismiss some of the counts against their clients on the grounds that the statute of limitations has expired.

Defense attorney Bradley Brunon filed the motion to dismiss 10 of 13 counts against the school’s founder Virginia McMartin, 77. She and six other defendants are charged with 208 counts of molestation and conspiracy against 41 former students at the Manhattan Beach nursery school.

The motion, made during the continuing preliminary hearing for the defendants, came after discovery that the Legislature may have erred when it revised the Penal Code last year. The apparent mistake shortened the statute of limitations for acts of child molestation committed before 1982.

Many of the counts in the McMartin case predate that year and should be dismissed, the defense attorneys said.

Public defender Forrest Latiner, who represents defendant Peggy Ann Buckey, 29, asked that 13 of 14 counts against his client be dropped.

Walter R. Urban, attorney for defendant Betty Raidor, 65, said that possibly half of the 33 counts against his client should be dismissed.

Eliseo Gauna, attorney for Babette Spitler, 37, also joined in the motion, though he said he doubted it applied to his client.

Attorneys for the other defendants, Raymond Buckey, 26; Peggy McMartin Buckey, 58, and Mary Ann Jackson, 57, said they had not decided whether to join in the motion.

Municipal Judge Aviva K. Bobb will hear arguments on the motions March 29.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Glenn Stevens said the revised sections of the Penal Code statute are ambiguous and “where you have ambiguity, the court has to look at the legislative intent of the statute.”

Penal Code Sections 800 and 801 were reworded last year to provide that felonies carrying maximum sentences of less than eight years must be prosecuted within three years, while those carrying sentences of eight or more years have a six-year limit.

The maximum sentence for child molestation has been increased several times, most recently in 1982, when it was boosted from seven years to eight.