More Charges in McMartin Case Dropped

The McMartin Pre-School molestation case, once the largest in U.S. history, was scaled down further Wednesday when the judge dismissed 27 counts--more than a fourth of the charges--against Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders, acting on requests from both the prosecution and defense, dropped the counts because they were based on allegations by three children who refused to testify at the trial.

In an amended complaint filed Tuesday, prosecutors listed 65 accusations--52 counts of molestation against Raymond Buckey, 12 against his mother, and a single shared count of conspiracy. The Buckeys had been charged with 100 counts.

Prosecutors asked Pounders to drop 35 counts--more than a third of their case. Besides the counts on which they presented no testimony or other evidence, they said that after reviewing 40,000 pages of transcripts they concluded that they had failed to prove eight other allegations.

Decision on 8 Counts Delayed

The judge delayed a decision on those eight counts, which involved two boys who testified at the trial and one girl who did not.

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin said the new complaint merely reflects “what was actually proven” during the trial and that the district attorney’s case against the Buckeys has not been weakened.

“We’ve had testimony from nine children in this case and medical evidence . . . which strongly supports our position that children were molested at the McMartin school,” Rubin said.

But lawyer Danny Davis, who represents Raymond Buckey, told reporters that the prosecution’s case is “nose-diving,” and attorney Dean Gits, who represents Peggy Buckey, termed the move “highly unusual.”

“It’s a face-saving device, but it looks like major plastic surgery is going on,” Davis said, adding that the amended complaint represents “a major surgical slashing into the prosecution’s case by their own knife.”

Statute of Limitations

The defense is expected to argue today that even more charges be dropped because they involve alleged acts that occurred beyond the statute of limitations. The issue is complicated by the fact that in 1984 the state Legislature revised the applicable statute of limitations from six years to three years and by the fact that there is disagreement over when prosecution on certain counts actually began.

Both defense attorneys have filed motions asking that the Buckeys be acquitted. They argue, besides the statute of limitations matter, that prosecutors failed to prove specific crimes or to produce substantial evidence in support of their allegations. Those and several other motions are scheduled to be heard this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the judge, his staff and attorneys for both sides visited the site of the former Manhattan Beach nursery school late Wednesday. Pounders said he wanted to see the place for himself before ruling on a defense motion to have the jury view the premises.

At its inception in the spring of 1984, the massive case involved more than 200 counts, 41 child witnesses and seven defendants. By the time it went to trial last year, it had been whittled down to 100 counts, 13 child witnesses and two defendants. In the end, nine children took the witness stand.

Prosecutors said the other four were too traumatized to testify, but Davis accused them of attempting to “cut their losses” by eliminating from the trial those children who gave “the most bizarre accounts” of molestation at the preliminary hearing.

The jury has been ordered to return to court Monday for testimony from the first witness in the defense phase of the trial, which is expected to last six months.