Prosecution of McMartin Case Built on Rumor, Defense Argues

Investigators fanned a firestorm of rumor at the outset of the McMartin Pre-School molestation case, an attorney argued as the defense in the marathon trial began its summation Tuesday.

Defense attorney Dean Gits outlined a range of doubts about police competence and witnesses’ credibility and appealed to the Superior Court jury to use common sense and the standard of reasonable doubt as tools.

“I want you to take them and put them in your pocket and carry them with you,” Gits said.

Defendants Ray Buckey, 31, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 62, are charged with 64 counts of molestation and a joint count of conspiracy. They are alleged to have molested 11 children at the Manhattan Beach preschool.

The alleged crimes date back a decade and the trial has lasted 2 1/2 years, making it the longest criminal proceeding on record. Judge William Pounders has said jury deliberations could be lengthy.

Gits argued that police incompetence at the start of an investigation of a parent’s complaint ignited a community rumor in suburban Manhattan Beach.

He cited a Sept. 8, 1983, form letter that investigators sent to hundreds of parents of children who had attended the family-owned preschool.

The letter asked the parents to keep the investigation confidential because of “the highly emotional effect it could have on our community.”

“Law enforcement completely lost control of the interview process. It was the start of rumors that governed this case,” Gits said.

He said medical procedures used to determine if children were molested were unscientific, and that the school was too small and too many people testified that they never saw sexual abuse for the allegations to make sense.

Gits focused on the testimony of one alleged victim, a boy who testified that games like “naked movie star,” “tickle” and “cowboys and Indians” took place in a secret room.

“But it doesn’t exist,” Gits said. “It never did exist. It defies logic. It defies space and it defies time.”

The boy also testified that he went through a secret gate to a place where a horse was butchered with a machete and that he was present at a church where a satanic ritual took place and he had to drink rabbit blood, Gits said.

The boy attended the school from the fall of 1978 to June, 1979.

Gits said that in the preliminary hearing, the boy said he was first molested by his first teacher, a person who was never charged and never part of the case. Later, the boy could not remember exactly when he was molested.

The boy also testified at the hearing that one of the school’s former teachers was in a room at the time of a “naked movie star” game and molested him. Gits said the boy did not claim that during the trial and, in fact, the teacher he named did not work at the school when he was there.

Charges against five of the seven McMartin teachers originally arrested in 1983 were dropped for lack of evidence, and the case was scaled down from hundreds of counts involving 41 children.

Gits presented a theory of the contamination of witnesses during the investigation, highlighting points where parents communicated with each other and children could have been influenced by interviewers at Children’s Institute International, a group that tries to identify abuse.

“Children can be led to believe they were molested. Then why can’t we be led to believe they were molested?” Gits said.

The judge has limited each side to 6 1/2 days for closing arguments, fearing a mistrial if the case drags on. The trial began with a total of 18 jurors and alternates. Six jurors have been excused.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Gunson concluded his summation on Monday after three days, reserving 3 1/2 days for rebuttal of defense arguments.