Timothy Busfield has had his child sex abuse case dismissed after a New Mexico judge ruled that Albuquerque prosecutors acted improperly by failing to allow the grand jury to hear more witnesses.
The 69-year-old actor made national headlines when he was arrested in January on misconduct charges related to the twin child actors he worked with on the Fox television series. cleaning lady. Although Busfield vehemently denied the claims and called them “terrible lies”, he was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child the following month.
Busfield filed a motion to unseal the indictment in June, in which his lawyers argued that the prosecutor “abandoned his role as the grand jury’s neutral ally, misstated the law and blocked the grand jury’s access to witnesses.” The grand jury heard testimony only from the lead detective and Busfield, despite jurors asking three separate times to hear from more witnesses.
In a ruling Friday, a judge sided with Busfield and unsealed the indictment, writing that “prosecuting counsel failed to act in a fair and impartial manner … In doing so, the grand jury proceedings were conducted in a manner that violated the grand jury statute designed to protect the structural integrity of our grand jury system and the presumption of bias that applies.”
However, the judge said prosecutors were still free to initiate new criminal proceedings against Busfield.
rolling stone A representative for Busfield has been contacted for comment.
Albuquerque authorities began an investigation into Busfield in November 2024 based on concerns that child actors were possibly “groomed” by Busfield, who served as an executive producer and director. cleaning lady. The investigation reopened late last year after one of the children made claims of sexual contact with his therapist.
During his grand jury testimony, Busfield said the allegations have destroyed his life. “My career is over,” he said during his two-hour-long testimony. “I’ve been canceled. I’ll never work again based on people’s fear that I’ll do it again, and even if that’s not true, I’m done. I’ve lost TV shows, a movie they digitally replaced me with. My agency fired me. I’m done. This isn’t about me or pity.”