Getty ImagesA judge in the US state of New Mexico has thrown out charges against Emmy-winning actor Timothy Busfield on Friday, saying there were issues with how prosecutors presented the case.
The West Wing and Field of Dreams actor was indicted in February on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. Busfield has denied all allegations.
The charges stemmed from accusations brought by child actors he worked with on the Fox series The Cleaning Lady, which he directed and produced.
The judge said on Friday that the prosecutor “failed to act in a fair and impartial manner”. The district attorney’s office said it is evaluating options on how to move forward.
State District Judge Joseph Montano granted the defence’s motion to dismiss the indictment on Friday, citing mistakes that undermined the grand jury process.
“Our office has received the order and is evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed,” a spokesperson for the Office of the Second Judicial District Attorney in Bernalillo County told the BBC on Friday.
The BBC has contacted a legal representative for Busfield.
The actor surrendered to state authorities in January when a warrant was issued for his arrest. A judge later ordered his release pending trial.
Busfield had originally been taken into custody in Albuquerque on two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and one count of child abuse.
The indictment against him, reviewed by the BBC, said that on or between 19 October 2022 and 10 September 2023, Busfield “touched or applied force to the intimate parts” of one of the unnamed boys when he was under the age of 13.
The Thirtysomething actor’s defence team submitted more than 70 letters from people vouching for his character and said that he underwent and passed a polygraph test pertaining to the allegations against him.
In a warrant for Busfield’s arrest, prosecutors had said the parents of the boys alleged that he groomed and sexually abused the youngsters while working on The Cleaning Lady.
Authorities claimed the boys referred to Busfield as “Uncle Tim” and alleged that he “would tickle them on the stomach and legs”. Both boys told authorities they were touched inappropriately for years, his arrest affidavit stated.
Busfield’s lawyers had said the actor was being accused as an act of revenge after the children were fired from the series, which angered their mother.
The BBC’s Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
