Ex-McMartin Teacher Says She Saw No Signs of Abuse at the School

Former McMartin Pre-School teacher Mary Ann Jackson, one of the original defendants in the four-year molestation proceedings against whom charges were dismissed in 1986, testified Monday that she never saw or heard any sign that children were abused or harmed during her 17 months at the nursery school.

During a full day of questioning by defense attorneys, Jackson, 59, portrayed the Manhattan Beach school as an idyllic place where students were well treated by a loving staff.

“They were especially happy children,” Jackson said. “It was an especially happy place to be. . . . They all seemed to know each other. Their parents knew each other. They all seemed to get along so well.”

Jackson denied allegations by several former McMartin pupils who have testified that they and their classmates were sexually abused by the defendants, Raymond Buckey, 30, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 61.

Repeatedly answering “no” and “never” as she replied to a long string of questions by Peggy Buckey’s defense lawyer, Dean Gits, about activities at the school, Jackson denied ever seeing naked children or teachers there.

Saw No Sexual Games

Jackson also testified that she never witnessed children playing sexually explicit games or saw teachers and others taking pornographic photographs or films of the pupils.

She described Peggy McMartin Buckey as having “a gift with children,” adding that Buckey “loved them and cared for them. She was just a good, marvelous teacher.”

Jackson also testified that she never heard any children at the school screaming or being spanked, and only heard them occasionally cry because of such normal reasons as fighting with other children over a toy.

She also testified that the school had an informal “open policy” that allowed parents to frequently come there unannounced to observe or talk with the teachers.

At one point during the questioning, Raymond Buckey’s defense attorney, Daniel Davis, reached into a shopping bag and withdrew a yellow portable hair dryer and other items allegedly used to abuse children. As he displayed each item, he asked Jackson if she had ever seen them. “No,” she replied each time.

Jackson, who taught at the school between January, 1979, and June, 1980, said she never saw Raymond Buckey on the school’s campus during class time. She added that the only time she recalled meeting Buckey was during an evening “open house.”

“I only said ‘Hi’ to him,” Jackson said.

Seven Original Defendants

The next time she saw Buckey, Jackson said, was during her arraignment on child molestation counts in 1984. Jackson was one of seven original defendants in the case who were charged with a total of 323 molestation, conspiracy and other counts.

In June, 1985, the district attorney’s office began dismissing dozens of charges, and in January, 1986, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner decided not to try five of the original seven defendants, calling the evidence against them “incredibly weak.”

Besides Jackson, the other defendants dismissed from the case were Raymond Buckey’s elderly grandmother, school founder Virginia McMartin; his sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, and teachers Betty Raidor and Babette Spitler.

Buckey and his mother remain charged with one count of conspiracy and 64 counts of child molestation for allegedly assaulting 11 children between 1978 and 1983.