Charges Against Timothy Busfield for Child Sex Abuse Tossed by Judge

A New Mexico judge has dismissed the indictment against actor and director Timothy Busfield, throwing out charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse. According to TheWrap, Judge Joseph Montano ruled the case was dismissed because the prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner. The judge noted that the prosecutor failed to properly instruct the grand jury on the law for calling witnesses and instructed them on a procedure that effectively withheld requested witnesses, violating statutes designed to protect the integrity of the grand jury system.

The charges stemmed from allegations involving two minor boys on the set of the series "The Cleaning Lady" in October 2022 and September 2023. TheWrap reports that Busfield, who served as director and executive producer, was facing four felony counts and had pleaded not guilty in February. While Variety reports the indictment included allegations of groping a 7-year-old boy, TheWrap states an arrest warrant was issued on January 9 following allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with two 11-year-old boys. Busfield has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Brief written by urgent.news from Consequence, TheWrap, Variety, Deadline, NYT Arts — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.