A New Mexico choose has dismissed an indictment towards actor and director Timothy Busfield on 4 counts of felony sexual contact of a minor, ruling that prosecutors “did not act in a good and neutral method.”
The “West Wing” actor was indicted in February by a grand jury in New Mexico.
In June, Busfield’s attorneys requested that the court docket dismiss the indictment towards him, stating that the prosecutor dealing with the case earlier than a grand jury “mistreated New Mexico legislation, deserted his statutory responsibility of neutrality and foreclosed the grand jury’s personal repeated requests to listen to extra testimony.”
Choose Joseph Montano granted Busfield’s movement to dismiss the indictment, in an order issued Friday, saying that the prosecutor’s actions “had the sensible impact of unilaterally withholding witnesses requested by the grand jurors.”
The choose famous that the state “stays free to institute new felony proceedings towards the defendant.”
Director and actor Timothy Busfield appears to be like on earlier than a listening to within the Second District Judicial Court docket on the Bernalillo County Courthouse, Jan. 20, 2026, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Sam Wasson/Getty Pictures
Nancy Laflin, the communications director for the Bernalillo County District Lawyer’s Workplace, advised ABC Information that the workplace is “evaluating our choices to find out how we are going to proceed.”
In January, Busfield turned himself in to authorities after an arrest warrant was issued. The unique felony criticism alleged two counts of felony sexual contact of a minor and one rely of kid abuse. When he was indicted by the Bernalillo County grand jury, it was on 4 counts of felony sexual contact of a minor.
He was accused of inappropriately touching a baby actor on the set of his present “The Cleansing Woman,” based on the felony criticism.
Busfield has denied all of the allegations.
The felony criticism stated that the dad and mom of the kid reported that the alleged abuse started in 2022, when the kid was 7 years previous.
The investigation started in November 2024, after a doctor at College of New Mexico Hospital examined the kid and notified police of suspected sexual abuse, based on the criticism.
An officer interviewed the kids’s dad and mom, who advised investigators that the minor and his twin brother have been youngster actors, the felony criticism says. The youngsters didn’t report sexual abuse on the time, based on the criticism.
The kid’s mom later reported to youngster protecting providers that Busfield had allegedly sexually abused her son from round November 2022 to spring 2024, based on the criticism.
Attorneys for Warner Bros., which produced “The Cleansing Woman,” advised police they beforehand carried out an unbiased investigation into the allegations however stated they might not discover proof to help the claims on the time, based on the criticism.
Following Choose Monatano’s resolution to dismiss the case, Busfield’s attorneys, Amber Fayerberg and Chris Dodd spoke with ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT and praised the choose, saying that he made “the best resolution.”
“He noticed the prosecution’s tactic for what it was and he stated so in his order,” Fayerberg stated. “He stated that they successfully withheld witnesses that the grand jurors repeatedly requested to listen to from… Doing so was a violation of the grand jury’s statutes and it compromised the integrity of the complete grand jury process.”
Fayerberg added that Busfield is “relieved” and was “crying” after Montano’s order.
“This has turned his life the other way up,” she stated. “This has turned his life past the other way up. It has ruined his life. These allegations have fully destroyed what he took a long time to construct.”
ABC Information has reached out to a consultant for Busfield.
ABC Information’ Alyssa Pone and Bethany Braun-Silva contributed to this report.
