New Mexico judge dismisses child sex abuse charges against actor Timothy Busfield

A New Mexico state court judge, Joseph Montano, on Friday dismissed child sexual abuse charges against US actor and director Timothy Busfield, known for his role in The West Wing. The judge found that prosecutors failed to act in a fair and impartial manner during grand jury proceedings, in which citizens review evidence to decide whether to indict. The ruling does not prevent prosecutors from pursuing fresh charges.

The allegations

Busfield, 69, was charged in February in a four-count indictment returned by a grand jury, which accused him of groping one of two boys. According to a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors in January, the boys, twin brothers, said the alleged contact took place over two years, when they were aged seven and eight, during breaks in production on the Albuquerque set of the Fox TV drama The Cleaning Lady. Busfield was a director and producer of the series.

The actor has strongly denied the allegations, calling them "lies", and his attorneys had asked for the charges to be dismissed.

Why the charges were dismissed

Montano said the prosecutor did not properly instruct grand jurors on how to request testimony from additional witnesses. Specifically, jurors were wrongly told that at least eight of them would have to agree before a witness could be called. The judge wrote that the prosecuting attorney "failed to act in a fair and impartial manner", and that the lawyer's actions "had the practical effect of unilaterally withholding witnesses requested by the grand jurors".

A spokesperson for the second judicial district attorney's office of New Mexico said the office was evaluating its options.

About the actor

Busfield is best known for prime-time television roles: a White House reporter in the NBC political drama The West Wing and an advertising agency executive in the ABC ensemble series Thirtysomething. He also appeared in the baseball film Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner.