Dismissal Plea in McMartin Case Denied

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday refused to dismiss charges against the two remaining defendants in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case, saying that he believes their rights have been properly protected.

“I do not see that there was a deprivation of due process of any magnitude,” said Judge Roger W. Boren, after reviewing the 40,000-page transcript of the preliminary hearing and listening to a day of oral arguments by two prosecutors and four defense attorneys.

But Boren said his ruling would not become effective until July 7, to give defense attorneys time to examine previously sealed court documents that might contain grounds for overturning a lower court decision that ordered Peggy McMartin Buckey, 59, and her son, Raymond Buckey, 28, to stand trial on 101 counts of child molestation and conspiracy.

Defense attorneys for the Buckeys had argued that the 18-month preliminary hearing contained “a plethora of violations, statutory and constitutional.” For example, they said, some of the alleged crimes were beyond the statute of limitations.

Boren is expected to set a trial date for the Buckeys July 7, when they next appear before him.