“The prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner,” Judge Joseph Montano writes in his ruling
Timothy Busfield, who was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse, has had the case against him dismissed.
The third-degree felonies stem from allegations from October 2022 and September 2023, when Busfield was directing two child actors on the set of “The Cleaning Lady.” New Mexico Judge Joseph Montano ruled Friday that the case was being dismissed because the prosecuting attorney did not “act in a fair and impartial manner.”
“The prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner, including the failure to properly instruct the grand jury on the law for calling witnesses and in instructing the grand jurors on a procedure that effectively withheld requested witnesses,” Montano wrote. “In doing so, the grand jury proceedings were conducted in a manner that violated grand jury statutes designed to protect the structural integrity of our grand jury system and the presumption of prejudice applies.”
Busfield, who pled not guilty to the four felony counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor back in February, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case. A warrant for Busfield’s arrest was issued Jan. 9, after allegations that he had inappropriate sexual contact with two 11-year-old boys while he served on “The Cleaning Lady” as director and executive producer. He surrendered to authorities on Jan. 13.
The hearing for the indictment’s dismissal was held on Sept. 25, and from that Judge Montano deemed that Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman was not acting impartially. The DA’s office now has time to “institute new criminal proceedings” should they choose.
“The issue presented is that once alerted, the grand jurors requested to hear from witnesses not presented by the State, and the prosecutor used an unexplained procedure and an incomplete explanation of the subpoena requirement to unilaterally withhold evidence from the grand jury,” Montano said. “These actions are not in line with either the letter or the spirit of the grand jury laws. To the extent delays may result when the prosecutor disputes evidence requested by grand jurors-after they have been alerted to the evidence without objection-the Court finds the reliability of the grand jury system and the intent that grand jurors be given access to more evidence-as long as it complies with the evidentiary standard outweighs the potential delay in proceedings.”
Busfield filed for the dismissal back in June.
“I’m going to confront these lies,” the “Thirtysomething” actor said at the time. “They’re horrible. They’re all lies. And I did not do anything to those little boys, and I’m going to fight it. I’m going to fight it with a great team, and I’m going to be exonerated.”
