Another McMartin Juror Might Have to Be Excused

The judge presiding in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case, who expressed concern earlier this week that he might have to declare a mistrial because of a dwindling jury, was told Wednesday that yet another juror might have to be excused.

The juror, Mark Bassett, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders that his firm is foundering and that he might have to leave jury duty to seek other employment.

Pounders said that such a development “may affect our ability to hold 12 jurors together” to conclude the marathon trial--which will enter its third year next week.

Outside Bassett’s hearing, Pounders said he may propose that the county consider paying the juror’s salary for the duration of the trial, if he is laid off. He noted that this would be cheaper than letting the $13 million it has spent so far go down the drain in a mistrial. Such arrangements have been made in the past, he said, but “very rarely.”

McMartin jurors receive $10 a day for their services because they were selected before jury duty pay was reduced to $5 a day.

The judge on Tuesday eliminated eight prospective defense witnesses in an attempt to shorten the trial, saying he was “desperately concerned” that there might not be enough jurors left to deliver a verdict if the trial drags on much longer.

Since the trial began in April of 1987 with 12 jurors and six alternates, four jurors have been excused--two for medical reasons, one because of career difficulties posed by the case’s duration and a fourth who was deemed inattentive to testimony.

Should Bassett, too, be excused, that would leave only one spare juror to substitute for any other juror who develops medical or employment problems during proceedings that could stretch into next year.

The judge said Wednesday he hopes the case can go to the jury by September, but noted that the defense has yet to call at least five critical witnesses--defendants Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, two former defendants and at least one physician to rebut medical evidence presented by the prosecution.

Also still to come are several months of rebuttal, followed by jury instructions and deliberations. A three-week vacation is scheduled for midsummer.

The trial, in which the Buckeys are charged with 65 counts of molestation and conspiracy involving 11 youngsters, enters its third year next week, making it the longest criminal trial in U.S. history.

The defense’s 37th witness, former schoolteacher Evelyn Pencheff, testified this week that she worked during the summers of 1981 and 1982 at her sister-in-law’s Manhattan Beach nursery school and accompanied children on field trips to the police and fire stations, a dentist’s office and a park. (Pencheff’s brother, Charles, is married to defendant Peggy McMartin Buckey).

Asked her opinion of Ray Buckey, Pencheff testified that “I thought he did an excellent job conducting the class. He seemed to be very friendly and enjoyed working in the classroom.” She said she never observed teachers being “mean” to children, and described the seaside pre-school as “a happy place.”

Former McMartin defendant Babette Spitler, against whom charges were dropped in 1986, is scheduled to take the witness stand today.