A New Mexico judge on Friday threw out an indictment against actor Timothy Busfield, finding that prosecutors failed to act in an impartial manner during the grand jury proceedings.
\n\nBusfield was indicted in February on charges of groping a 7-year-old boy on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” a Fox show on which he worked as a director. He maintains his innocence.
\n\nIn his ruling, Judge Joseph Montano found that prosecutors had impeded grand jurors who wanted to hear from defense witnesses. Some eight potential witnesses were sitting in the hallway outside, but were not called to appear.
\n\n“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,” the judge 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.”
\n\nProsecutors have the option of seeking another indictment, but have yet to decide whether to do that.
\n\n“Our office has received the order and…
Original source: https://variety.com/