The Region - News from Dec. 22, 1985

A subpoena ordering City Atty. James Hahn to testify at a preliminary hearing in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case was withdrawn by defense attorney Daniel Davis. Davis subpoenaed Hahn to try to impeach the testimony of a 10-year-old former McMartin student who, when shown a photo of the city attorney in April, identified Hahn as his molester. Hahn, then city controller, strongly denied the allegation, and a judge who refused to quash the subpoena nevertheless called it “a publicity stunt.” Davis said he withdrew the subpoena because he understood prosecutors did not plan to call the 10-year-old as a witness if and when the defendants are ordered to stand trial in Superior Court. Seven former teachers at the defunct Manhattan Beach nursery school are the subject of a preliminary hearing, now in its second year, that will determine whether they should stand trial on charges of molesting 14 of their students.