Two More McMartin Witnesses Out : Dropping of Children to Eliminate 18 TV Testimony Counts

Two of the four remaining child witnesses were dropped from the McMartin Pre-School molestation case Friday, making certain the dismissal of nearly half of the 40 charges prosecutors had sought to establish with testimony by closed-circuit television.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Glenn Stevens said an 8-year-old girl scheduled to testify next had been reevaluated by his office and eliminated as a witness for reasons he did not specify.

He also said the parents of a 10-year-old boy decided recently to withdraw their child for “confidential” reasons.

Five children had been picked by the prosecution to testify by closed-circuit television, but the first, a 6-year-old girl, was withdrawn from the case by her parents Wednesday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin had insisted Thursday that the other four would testify.

‘Go Forward’

“We intend to go forward with the two remaining children,” Rubin told the court Friday.

Attorney Daniel Davis, who represents key defendant Raymond Buckey, told the court, however, that “the best information we have is that neither intends to testify.”

Earlier this week, the father of one of the two remaining witnesses, an 8-year-old boy, told The Times he had decided not to permit his son to testify, and the mother of the other, a 7-year-old girl, said her daughter would be a witness only if the child’s psychotherapist is not required to release treatment records to the defense.

Child witnesses have been divided into two groups: those whose parents were willing to have them testify in open court and those considered prospective witnesses only if they could testify from a separate room by closed-circuit television.

TV Procedure

When the first group finished testifying, however, Municipal Judge Aviva K. Bobb ruled that the television procedure, authorized by a recent state statute, could not be used in the McMartin case because the alleged crimes occurred before the statute was enacted and because the preliminary hearing had already started.

During 2 1/2 months of appeals, a Superior Court judge overturned Bobb’s ruling, an appeal court refused to hear the issue and the state Supreme Court decided to let the Superior Court ruling stand.

Before either of the last two prospective child witnesses can testify by closed-circuit television, however, prosecutors must show that they need to be removed from the presence of the defendants because of fears generated by threats to them or to their families.

Twenty-two charges, labeled “closed-circuit television counts,” remain: 18 against Buckey, 2 against his mother, Peggy Buckey, and 2 against Betty Raidor. All were teachers at the Manhattan Beach nursery school owned by Raymond Buckey’s grandmother, Virginia McMartin, also a defendant.

The counts are in addition to about 90 molestation and conspiracy counts testified to in open court by 13 child witnesses.

Of 41 original complaining witnesses, 23 have either dropped out of the case or been eliminated as witnesses by the district attorney’s office, forcing Bobb to dismiss two-thirds of the initial charges.

Friday’s proceedings focused on whether psychologist Cheryl Kent, therapist for the 8-year-old boy, must turn over all or some of her psychotherapy records and notes on the child to the defense.

Notes Reviewed

Bobb reviewed the notes in chambers and ruled that five pages “cut and pasted” from Kent’s records were relevant to the issue of the child’s ability to testify and ordered copies distributed to the defense but not made public.

Kent will take the witness stand Monday.

The long preliminary hearing appeared to be coming to an end in June, when prosecutors said they had no more alleged child victims willing and able to testify, except for five children who would take the stand if they did not have to come face-to-face with the defendants.

If either of the final two witnesses qualifies for the closed-circuit procedure and agrees to testify, the hearing will be delayed further while the court contracts with a firm for the television cameras and monitors that will enable the child, a support person and an independent monitor in one room and the judge, 7 defendants, 11 attorneys and reporters and spectators in another room to see each other.