{"id":2828,"date":"2026-10-17T12:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T07:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2828"},"modified":"2026-10-17T12:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T07:04:16","slug":"judge-dismisses-child-sex-abuse-charges-against-actor-timothy-busfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2828","title":{"rendered":"Judge dismisses child sex abuse charges against actor Timothy Busfield"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A state court judge in New Mexico \u200con Friday dismissed charges of child sexual abuse against \u201cWest Wing\u201d actor and director Timothy Busfield, saying the prosecution did not act fairly and impartially during grand jury proceedings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Judge Joseph Montano \u200bsaid prosecutors could pursue new charges against Busfield. The actor has strongly \u200bdenied allegations of improperly touching two young boys, twin brothers, on the \u2060Albuquerque set of Fox TV drama \u201cThe Cleaning Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Second \u200bJudicial District Attorney\u2019s Office of New Mexico said the office was evaluating its options.<\/p>\n

The \u200btwins reported that the alleged contact had occurred over a two-year period, when they were aged 7 and 8, during breaks in production, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint filed in January.<\/p>\n

Busfield, a \u200bdirector and producer of \u201cThe Cleaning Lady,\u201d was charged in February in a four-count grand \u200bjury indictment <\/a>that accused the actor of groping one of the boys.<\/p>\n

He steadfastly professed his innocence, calling \u200cthe \u2060allegations against him \u201clies,\u201d and his attorneys asked for the charges against him to be dismissed.<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s ruling, Montano said the prosecution did not properly instruct members of the grand jury on procedures for requesting testimony from additional witnesses.<\/p>\n

In part, the prosecutor \u200bincorrectly informed the grand \u200bjurors that at \u2060least eight of them would have to agree to wanting to hear from a witness for that person to be called.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u200bprosecuting attorney failed to act fairly and impartially,\u201d Montano \u2060wrote, adding that the lawyer\u2019s actions \u201chad the practical effect of unilaterally withholding witnesses requested by the grand jurors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busfield, 69, is best known for his prime-time television roles as a \u2060White House \u200breporter on the NBC political drama \u201cThe West Wing\u201d \u200band as an advertising agency executive on ABC ensemble series \u201cThirtysomething.\u201d He also appeared in the baseball film \u201cField of \u200bDreams,\u201d starring Kevin Costner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A state court judge in New Mexico \u200con Friday dismissed charges of child sexual abuse against \u201cWest Wing\u201d actor and director Timothy Busfield, saying the prosecution did not act fairly and impartially during grand jury proceedings. Judge Joseph Montano \u200bsaid prosecutors could pursue new charges against Busfield. The actor has strongly \u200bdenied allegations of improperly touching two young boys, twin brothers, on the \u2060Albuquerque set of Fox TV drama \u201cThe Cleaning Lady.\u201d A spokesperson for the Second \u200bJudicial District Attorney\u2019s Office of New Mexico said the office was evaluating its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}