Buckey Takes the Stand, Denies Abusing Children

Ray Buckey took the witness stand in his second trial Monday and denied molesting any children at his family’s McMartin Pre-School.

The 32-year-old Buckey, deeply tanned and clad in a dark blue suit, answered “No” and “Never” to questions posed by his attorney, Danny Davis, about whether he committed specific acts of molestation on children who testified at the trial.

“Did you ever lay down on your back and have children romp and play on your body?” Davis asked.

“No,” Buckey replied.

Davis then asked whether Buckey engaged in sexual intercourse with a specific child, to which Buckey answered, “No.”

“Did you do anything like that with any child?” asked Davis.

“Never,” Buckey said emphatically.

His soft-spoken testimony echoed the statements he made under oath during his first trial, which resulted in acquittal on most charges.

“He’s been up there before,” Davis told reporters outside court. “He can’t do much but deny, try to control his nervousness and hope the jury can get some sense of the guy.”

Davis said the defense will rest its case this week and predicted that all testimony could end as early as the middle of next week.

The first Buckey trial, the longest and costliest criminal proceeding in U.S. history, ended in January with Buckey acquitted of 40 counts of molestation. His 62-year-old mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, was acquitted of 12 charges. But the jury deadlocked on 13 counts against Ray Buckey, and the district attorney decided to retry him on eight of those charges involving three children.

The prosecution took only three weeks to present its case in the new trial. The defense began calling witnesses in early June.

In his testimony, Buckey acknowledged that he routinely did not wear underwear when he was a teaching assistant and later a teacher at his family’s now-defunct preschool in Manhattan Beach. But he said this was a matter of “comfort” and had no sexual purpose.

In retrospect, he said, he believes it is improper for an adult male to go without underwear at a preschool.

“Did you do anything with a child, including touching a child with some intent to arouse yourself sexually,” Davis asked.

“No,” said Buckey, adding, “Of course, I touched children because I had to deal with children.”

As jurors listened intently, their eyes focused on Buckey, Davis asked, “Are you a little nervous right now?”

“Very nervous,” the defendant responded.