Plea Bargain Try by Buckey Lawyer Cited

Danny Davis, lawyer for McMartin defendant Ray Buckey, twice approached prosecutors about a plea bargain before a meeting was set up recently in which possible disposition of the case was discussed, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Thompson said Wednesday.

Thompson said Davis first approached a prosecutor before Buckey’s retrial began last month on eight counts of child molestation involving the Manhattan Beach preschool and asked, “Can’t we work out a disposition?” The second request came in a phone call, said Thompson, who added that no offer was ever made to Buckey.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, a legal newspaper, published details from a tape of the meeting. In that report, Davis disputed a statement by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner that “there has never been any offer whatsoever. . . .”

Neither Davis nor Reiner were available for comment Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, leaders of Peace Officers Research Assn. of California and the California Union of Safety Employees charged that Reiner, a candidate for attorney general, has been seeking to use the case “to further his political career.” The groups are backing Reiner’s Democratic primary opponent, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith.