ALBUQUERQUE — The grand jurors who indicted Timothy Busfield asked to hear from more witnesses, and on Friday a New Mexico judge found that prosecutors did not call certain of them. Judge Joseph Montano of the Second Judicial District Court threw out the indictment against the actor and director, finding that prosecutors “failed to act in a fair and impartial manner.”
The dismissal is not an acquittal, and it says nothing about whether the allegations are true. Busfield, who has denied them, surrendered to authorities on Jan. 13 and was released on his own recognizance a week later. He was indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor, involving two boys who worked on “The Cleaning Lady,” the series on which he was a director.
What sank the case, the judge found, was how it reached the grand jury. Prosecutors did not properly instruct jurors on the law for calling witnesses, and they used a procedure that “effectively withheld requested witnesses,” according to the filing. That broke statutes “designed to protect the structural integrity of our grand jury system,” and “the presumption of prejudice applies.”
The dispute was aired at a September hearing, where defense attorney Amanda Fayerberg played recordings of grand jurors asking for more witnesses, Fox News reported. She argued that prosecutors wrongly told them subpoenas were needed, though the witnesses were “present, available and willing to testify.” District Attorney Greer Staley countered that the defense had not followed the correct process, and that Busfield “excessively” tried to steer jurors toward favorable witnesses and exhibits during three hours of testimony.
The judge left the door open. “The State, however, remains free to institute new criminal proceedings against Defendant,” the filing says. Nancy Laflin of the district attorney’s office said her office has received the order and “is evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed.”
Busfield’s lawyer Larry Stein had said in February that the prosecution “appears driven by something other than the facts or the law.” The counts themselves have moved, too. When he was arrested in January he faced two counts of criminal sexual contact and one of child abuse, while the grand jury returned four counts of criminal sexual contact, Fox News reported.
The reports of the order do not say who the requested witnesses were or what they would have told the jurors. Nor has the district attorney’s office said whether a second grand jury will be asked to hear it all again.
