McMartin Jury Deadlocks; Buckey Won’t Be Retried : Mistrial: The impasse on eight counts in the second preschool molestation trial ends the longest, costliest criminal case in U.S. history.

A mistrial was declared Friday in Raymond Buckey’s second trial on charges that he molested children at the McMartin Pre-School, and prosecutors said they wouldn’t try him a third time.

The prosecutors’ decision after the jury deadlocked on eight sex counts ended the longest, costliest criminal case in U.S. history.

“It is clear to me that the jury will not reach a verdict in this case on any of the counts,” Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg said in declaring the mistrial.

Votes on seven of the eight counts leaned toward acquittal, and deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Martinez said Buckey would not be tried again.

“The community has had enough. We gave it our best shot,” Martinez said. “These kids cannot be McMartin kids for the rest of their lives. It’s been a horrible experience.”

Buckey said he would not be happy until Weisberg makes a final ruling at a hearing Wednesday on whether to abide by the prosecution motion to dismiss.

“No one has won in the McMartin case, one or two,” Buckey said. “I was innocent coming in and I’m still innocent because I wasn’t found guilty.”

The lack of resolution was another bizarre development in the McMartin case, which has consumed seven years of court time and cost taxpayers more than $15 million.

During a news conference, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner conceded that there were “fundamental problems with the evidence in this case that go back six or seven years.”

But he said he did not regret going through with the second trial.

“The parents felt it was important there would be a resolution,” he said. “I think it’s clear now there cannot be.”

Defense attorney Danny Davis said the ordeal would never be over for the parents.

“It’s a horrible predicament to . . . consider it didn’t happen and they bought into a circus,” he said.

Even one of the most outspoken parents, who had demanded the retrial, said she had tired of the battle.

“I really wasn’t surprised,” Jackie McGauley said of the mistrial. “People are real divided on this issue. . . . I feel such relief that it’s over. I’d like to get on with the work of seeing that the justice system is changed to accommodate children.”

Asked what he would do with the rest of his life, Buckey said, “I’m just going to go on. I’ve learned to endure a lot of things in seven years. . . . I would like to be just left alone.

“I’ll have to get a job now,” he added with a smile.

Buckey’s father, Charles, said he was disappointed that his son was not acquitted.

“I’ve lost faith in the district attorney’s office,” he said. “Every one of these people has lied and been very deceitful.”

Divided on all counts, the jurors were unanimous on one thing: that the case should not be tried again.

“There are too many questions, too many gaping holes and it’s too much time to spend,” said juror Michael Carapella, a 25-year-old musician.

The jury of seven women and five men voted in favor of conviction on only one of the counts against Buckey. That count was 8-4 for guilty. The votes favoring acquittal on the other charges ranged from 11-1 to 7-5. The jury was evenly split on one charge.

The jury had earlier reached verdicts on two charges, but those verdicts were kept sealed by the judge. On Friday morning, the jury asked for the unannounced verdicts to be returned, saying several of jurors had changed “their views.” It turned out that those two verdicts were for acquittal.

The highly unusual request came after the jury heard the testimony of one girl, her mother and a prosecution medical expert, Dr. Astrid Heger, read back on Wednesday and Thursday. All three witnesses testified that all three girls bore signs of anal and vaginal scarring that indicated molestation.

Weisberg said the jurors were entitled to change their votes because “until a verdict is rendered in open court, it is subject to further consideration.”

The jurors took the same route an earlier jury took last January, choosing not to decide because they could not agree whether Buckey was guilty or innocent of molesting three young girls as long as 10 years ago at his family’s Manhattan Beach preschool.

A number of jurors said they believed the crucial pieces of evidence dividing them were the videotapes made by Childrens Institute International, in which therapists interviewed toddlers about whether they were molested.

“The CII tapes were in my mind very bad,” said Dunham. “We did not put a lot of credibility in them. Most of us felt the techniques of the interviews were very leading.”

Another juror complained that there was insufficient corroborating evidence from witnesses other than the parents to back up the children’s stories.

“All the evidence I saw in the process, to me he’s not guilty,” said juror Sylvia Scrigna, 30, a bank employee.

The second, abbreviated Buckey trial had the feeling of a postscript, following the first so closely.

Before the first trial, an 18-month preliminary hearing for seven original defendants strained the court system and spurred calls for reform. Charges against five defendants, all teachers, were dismissed.

The first trial was a dramatic tableau of passionate advocacy by prosecution and defense attorneys determined to prove their points. It drew capacity audiences of former McMartin parents as well as supporters of the defendants.

A parade of 124 witnesses testified at the first trial. In the second trial, which lasted just three months, 46 witnesses testified.

A new duo of prosecutors seemed only mildly familiar with the facts of the case and less obsessed with winning conviction at all costs. There were reports they had tried to plea bargain with Buckey to avoid the second trial, a claim they denied.

The witnesses were older and fewer. In the first trial of Buckey and his 63-year-old mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, nine children testified. The second time, three adolescent girls took the stand to tell of the time when they were toddlers. Often, they answered lawyers’ questions with: “I don’t remember.”

Buckey, who spent five years in jail awaiting resolution of his case before he was released on bail, denied at both trials that he ever molested any child.

The McMartin saga began in August, 1983, when a mother called Manhattan Beach police to complain that her child had been molested at the school.

Police responded by sending letters to parents suggesting they check their children for signs of molestation. Hysteria followed, and the case ignited a national wave of concern over molestation. Buckey, his mother, grandmother, sister and three other teachers were arrested.

Children gave investigators accounts of “naked games,” satanic rites and animals tortured to frighten the youngsters into silence.

The first jury spent nine weeks deliberating on the 65 molestation and conspiracy charges against the Buckeys, who were accused of molesting 11 children during a five-year period at their family-owned preschool.

On Jan. 18, the panel acquitted Peggy Buckey of 12 charges, absolved her son on 40 counts but deadlocked on another 13 charges against him.