McMartin Case Totters on Mistrial

The McMartin Pre-School molestation case careened toward a mistrial Monday as the judge reluctantly released a fifth juror.

The woman alternate juror had to undergo emergency gall bladder surgery, which will incapacitate her for at least a month.

“There’s a strong possibility that we’re going to lose one (other) juror before very long,” said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders, without elaboration.

Race Against Time

“In my view, it is a probability that this case will end in a mistrial,” he added, characterizing the remaining months as a race against time.

Key defendant Raymond Buckey, 31, is expected to take the stand today--almost six years since he was first arrested. The rebuttals and final arguments that will follow his lengthy testimony mean that jury deliberations are months away, with a verdict unlikely before 1990, the judge has said.

Four of the original 18 jurors (12 regulars and six alternates) have been dismissed during the 27-month-long trial, which has set world records for length and cost. Two had health problems, a third was inattentive, and the fourth faced career difficulties.

Juror’s Firm Folds

The loss of another juror, whose company recently folded, was averted by putting him on the county payroll for the duration of the trial. Several others have expressed concern about their careers, which have been on hold. And Pounders said he has just received a letter from yet another juror’s employer seeking an estimate of when it will all end.

If two more jurors are lost, Pounders would be forced to declare a mistrial, unless both sides agree to continue with fewer than 12.

Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 62, are charged with 65 counts of molestation and conspiracy involving 11 youngsters who attended their family-run Manhattan Beach nursery school.