McMartin Jurors Upset by Judge’s Verdict Plan

The McMartin Pre-School molestation trial took another twist Friday when jurors complained privately to the judge and attorneys that his plan to unseal verdicts in batches is affecting their deliberations.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders explained after a lengthy meeting in chambers with three of the panelists that “the freedom of the press has interrupted my plans” to announce Dec. 15 the one verdict already turned in by the jury and any others they decide in the next two weeks.

“They are concerned about the reaction of others while they’re still deliberating, and it has (had) an effect immediately,” he said.

He said he believes the jury is withholding verdicts.

He said friends had told jurors of the plan, which was announced outside their presence last week.

“There is cause for the court to reconsider,” Pounders said. “I’ve stepped back from my hard line of saying I’m going to (announce any verdicts received) on or before Dec. 15. All the options are open.”

He said his options include altering a scheduled Christmas vacation, sequestering the jury, or waiting until all the verdicts are in before unsealing any of them.

Pounders had decided on the unusual move of announcing verdicts piecemeal because of the large number of counts--65--and because he fears that at least one juror could be lost if deliberations last much longer. During the course of the trial, the jury roster was shrunk by illness and other reasons so that no alternate panelists remain.

The jury, which got the case Nov. 2, will have been deliberating for six weeks by the time it is slated to start a two-week holiday break Dec. 16.

The judge said the jury apparently has completed discussions on three of 11 alleged victims and is now deciding counts relating to a fourth child, but is holding on to the verdicts. He had instructed the panel to sign, date, seal and turn in to the court clerk verdicts as soon as they are reached. Verdicts do not become official until they are read and affirmed in open court.

The in-chambers conversations Friday were sealed at the jurors’ request. Pounders sent the jury home early. So far, he and lawyers for both sides have not reached agreement on what to do, and more discussions are scheduled for Monday.

“There doesn’t seem to be an easy way out” of the predicament, Pounders said.

The jurors are sifting through more than two years of evidence concerning 52 counts of child molestation against Ray Buckey, 12 counts of molestation against his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, and one shared count of conspiracy against both.

The single verdict the jurors have turned in is thought by the judge to concern the 2 1/2-year-old whose alleged abuse triggered a massive investigation of the Virginia McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach and at least eight other South Bay nursery schools. The child did not testify; instead prosecutors relied on the testimony of a jailhouse informant and two physicians.