The Region : Another McMartin Witness Drops Out

The fourth of five prospective child witnesses who had been scheduled to testify by closed-circuit television in the McMartin Pre-School preliminary hearing is no longer expected to take the witness stand. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin told the court that “at this moment, we do not plan to call (the 7-year-old girl) as a witness,” although the girl’s mother told The Times that the family has not made a final decision. That leaves only one child witness--an 8-year-old boy--and only six of the 40 counts prosecutors had hoped to establish through closed-circuit television testimony. Municipal Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb must first find, however, that the boy is eligible to testify on television from a separate room, rather than in the presence of the seven defendants, all former teachers at the Manhattan Beach preschool. Thirteen of the original 42 child witnesses have testified at the yearlong preliminary hearing, and two-thirds of the original charges against the teachers have been dismissed.