Defense Will File Complaints Against McMartin Prosecutor

Defense attorneys in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case said Friday that they will file misconduct complaints with the State Bar of California against the chief prosecutor in the case.

Daniel G. Davis and Dean R. Gits, who helped win acquittals last week for Ray Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, accused Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael R. Rubin of unfairly blocking bail for Peggy McMartin Buckey for nearly two years and of presenting testimony from a jailhouse informant who she knew had perjured himself in the past.

Rubin, who battled repeatedly with the two lawyers during the 2 1/2-year molestation trial, denied the accusations and said she welcomes an investigation by the State Bar.

The defense attorneys announced the complaints against Rubin during a news conference, where criticisms were also leveled at trial Judge William R. Pounders, the media and Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

The lawyers said media reports, particularly on television, are continuing to stir public sentiment against the Buckeys.

Early Friday morning, police extinguished a small fire set by vandals on top of a playhouse at the now-closed Manhattan Beach preschool. Police said they have no clues as to who set the fire just after midnight. The school has been a repeated target of vandals.

The reactions to the case came eight days after jurors found the Buckeys not guilty on 52 child molestation charges and announced that they could not reach a verdict on 13 other counts.

Davis said he will write a letter to the State Bar to complain that Rubin may have permitted jailhouse informant George Freeman to testify that he had five felony convictions, even though she knew he actually had nine convictions.

Davis also said he would present evidence that Rubin knew, and did not reveal, that Freeman had perjured himself on three other occasions before testifying against Ray Buckey during the trial.

Freeman testified during the trial that when he and Buckey shared a jail cell for two days in 1984, Buckey admitted sodomizing the 2 1/2-year-old boy whose allegations launched the case. In a subsequent appearance on the witness stand, Freeman admitted he had perjured himself in other trials.

Rubin said Davis has a “history of making outrageous, unfounded and unproven allegations,” but she declined to answer specific questions about Freeman.

“I have no regrets, as I said after the trial, about anything I did in this case,” Rubin said.

Gits said his complaint to the State Bar will claim that Peggy McMartin Buckey was held in jail for 22 months without bail in part because Rubin misrepresented the allegations against the preschool operator.

Gits said the prosecutor may have lied when she said that the charges leveled by the district attorney’s office against Peggy McMartin Buckey were different from those handed down by a grand jury. In fact, Gits said, the two sets of allegations were identical, and Peggy McMartin Buckey would have been granted bail from the start of the case if a judge had known that.

Rubin denied Gits’ charge but declined to discuss specifics.

Rubin was not the only target of the defense attorneys Friday.

Davis criticized media coverage of the case, saying the verdict has been ignored, as newspapers and television reporters continue to allow the alleged victims to vilify the Buckeys.

“Don’t teach our children that anger and vengeance are to be admired and pursued anymore,” Davis said in an emotional speech. “You in the media . . . allow them to continue to litigate the uncertainty of what did or did not happen.”

Gits said the jury verdict should be respected because the 12 jurors were the only members of the public who heard all the evidence.

Davis said Pounders should not have appeared on television to discuss the case. He accused the judge of “trouping about in television land like a lightweight bit actor, making comments about the interviews with the children which would be evidence in this case” if there is a retrial on the 13 counts on which the jury could not reach a verdict.

Pounders could not be reached for comment.

Eli Gauna, who represented former preschool teacher Babette Spitler, said The Times was particularly guilty of bias against the defendants.

Gauna said that while other newspapers and television reporters began to report “deficiencies in the prosecution case,” The Times did not.

Times Metropolitan Editor Craig Turner disputed Gauna’s assertion. “The Times covered the McMartin trial thoroughly and fairly,” Turner said.

Gauna also accused Antonovich of “sniffing the political winds” and “trying to get some votes” when the supervisor suggested Tuesday that charges should be refiled against the Buckeys for the 13 counts.

“There is no political motivation,” said Dawson Oppenheimer, Antonovich’s spokesman. “He didn’t say he wanted the charges refiled. His motion before the Board (of Supervisors) asks for a review of the allegations by the attorney general’s office.”