Judge Places Severe Restrictions Covering Release for Buckey

McMartin Pre-School molestation case defendant Raymond Buckey was ordered released from custody Friday on a $3-million property bond, but a Superior Court judge set severe restrictions on his movements and limited his contacts with children.

Buckey, 30, was not immediately released but is expected to be set free sometime next week after necessary paper work is completed.

“He’s waited for five years; he can wait another week,” his attorney, Danny Davis, said after the hearing, adding that his client’s first wish once he is free is “to go see the ocean.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders issued the order after determining that Buckey had met the $1.5-million bail by pledging real estate worth twice that amount, as required by law.

At a lengthy hearing Friday afternoon, Pounders ordered seven conditions under which Buckey would be released.

The conditions include that Buckey not contact any of the victims in the case or their families, not leave California without the court’s permission, relinquish his passport and not have any verbal or physical contact with any person under age 14 who is not a blood relative or accompanied by a parent.

The court also ordered that he not enter the cities of Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach or Hermosa Beach without the court’s permission, be kept under 24-hour guard and not consume any alcohol.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin, who has opposed Buckey’s release, said Friday that she is satisfied with the conditions Pounders imposed, especially those barring him from contact with young children and placing him under round-the-clock security. It still has not been determined who will provide the 24-hour guard.

Parents of the alleged victims said through their attorney, Gregory Mooney, that they are concerned about their own children’s safety and that of the community at large, but are gratified that the judge has placed stringent restrictions on Buckey. Mooney noted that after Buckey’s first arrest and release in the fall of 1983, he continued to associate with children despite warnings from the Manhattan Beach police.

Disregarding what he said was “strong advice” from both the county counsel’s and county clerk’s offices that he should require costly title insurance, Pounders ordered Buckey’s attorney to produce preliminary title reports on the properties before Buckey’s release.

“If you fail to return for trial, the trial will take place in your absence, you’ll be convicted in absentia and friends who posted their property will lose it,” Pounders warned Buckey.

But in court, Buckey appeared relaxed, so much so according to his lawyer, that he slept in the lockup while attorneys argued in the judge’s chambers.

“While we were in there doing mumbo jumbo, he was sawing logs,” Davis said.

Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, face 65 counts of child molestation and conspiracy involving 11 children who attended their family run nursery school in Manhattan Beach.

Their trial is in its 22nd month.

Pounders, concerned about what he termed the “excessive” length of time Buckey has been jailed without a conviction, said he was satisfied that sufficient property had been posted. Each of the 22 property owners pledging their homes or other real estate appeared and assured the judge that they would forfeit their property if Buckey flees.

Pledges by Friends

Among those pledging property are attorney Davis himself, who put up the McMartin school he now owns; attorney Dean Gits, who represents Buckey’s mother; film maker Abby Mann, who is planning a movie and book on the case; members of Davis’ and Gits’ legal staffs; friends of the Buckey family, and several other defense attorneys who have been involved in the case. The largest amount, more than $400,000, was pledged by a couple who are friends of the Buckeys, Starr and Peggy Bartlett of Manhattan Beach.

Buckey has been jailed since March, 1984, when he was arrested along with his mother, grandmother, sister and three other former teachers at the now-defunct preschool. Although all seven were ordered to stand trial on molestation and conspiracy charges after an 18-month preliminary hearing, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner dropped charges against all but Buckey and his mother. Peggy McMartin Buckey is free on $295,000 bail.

During the current trial, nine children testified that they were raped, sodomized or forced to perform oral copulation. They said they were photographed during “naked games,” taken to strange houses, a farm, a grocery and a church for sexual abuse and satanic rituals. They said they told no one because Raymond Buckey threatened to kill their parents and underscored his threats by mutilating and killing animals.

The defense contends the children were brainwashed into believing that they had been molested by therapists at the Children’s Institute International, a Los Angeles child-abuse diagnostic and treatment center.

Times staff writer Andrea Ford contributed to this story.