LOCAL : High Court Rejects Lawsuit by Former McMartin Teachers

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused today to become involved in a dispute arising from the McMartin Pre-School child molestation case, the longest and costliest criminal trial in U.S. history.

The justices, without comment, rejected an appeal from former teachers Virginia McMartin, 82, and Peggy Ann Buckey, 33, the mother and daughter of former Martin Pre-School owner Peggy McMartin Buckey.

The elder McMartin and Peggy Ann Buckey were among five co-defendants dismissed from the case before the trial in which Peggy McMartin Buckey and her son, Raymond, were acquitted in January of 52 molestation counts involving children at their Manhattan Beach preschool.

Raymond Buckey faces a retrial on Tuesday for eight other molestation counts on which jurors were deadlocked.

In the case rejected by the Supreme Court, Virginia McMartin and Peggy Ann Buckey argued they should be able to seek damages from physicians and therapists hired by Los Angeles County prosecutors to interview children who attended the preschool since the women subsequently were dropped from the case.

A trial court found that the Children’s Institute International employees were immune from liability, and a California appeals court upheld that ruling.