LOCAL : Buckey Offered Plea Bargain, Angry Defense Attorney Claims

The lawyer for accused child molester Ray Buckey, reversing his earlier public denials, has confirmed that prosecutors offered a plea bargain and that he has a tape of the discussions, it was reported today.

Defense attorney Daniel Davis, contradicting his own and prosecution denials that the offer was ever made--denials that went as high as Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner--told the Los Angeles Daily Journal that the offer was made as Buckey’s retrial in the McMartin Pre-School case was about to begin on April 2.

Davis said he had promised prosecutors not to reveal the offer but changed his mind because he was angry about the way the district attorney’s office is handling the case. Reiner, who is running for state attorney general, denied the offer of a plea bargain as recently as Friday.

Davis told the legal newspaper that he had a tape recording of the offer, and on Monday he played it for a Daily Journal reporter.

In the taped discussions, prosecutors talk about offering Buckey the option of pleading no contest to the charges against him, without his having to serve any additional time beyond the five years he has already spent in jail.