Judge dismisses child sex abuse indictment against actor Timothy Busfield, citing prosecutorial misconduct

A New Mexico judge has thrown out the criminal indictment accusing actor and director Timothy Busfield of sexually abusing two child actors on the set of the Fox drama "The Cleaning Lady," ruling that prosecutors in Bernalillo County manipulated the grand jury process that produced the charges. The order, issued Friday, does not resolve the underlying allegations and leaves the district attorney's office free to seek a new indictment.

A grand jury process unravels

Judge Joseph Montano of New Mexico's Second Judicial District Court granted Busfield's motion to dismiss the four-count indictment, finding that the prosecutor who presented the case to grand jurors blocked defense-favorable witnesses from testifying and misstated the law governing how they could be called. Busfield, 68, best known for "Thirtysomething" and "The West Wing," had been facing four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, each a third-degree felony under New Mexico law.

In his written order, obtained by Fox News Digital and separately described by TheWrap, Montano wrote that the prosecutor's conduct amounted to a structural flaw serious enough to taint the entire proceeding.

"The prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner," Judge Joseph Montano wrote, adding that the handling of witnesses was "not in line with either the letter or the spirit of the grand jury laws."

Because the violation went to the integrity of the process itself, Montano found that "the presumption of prejudice applies," meaning Busfield did not have to show the outcome would have been different had the grand jury heard from the witnesses his lawyers wanted called.

The case by the numbers

• 4 felony counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the dismissed indictment, up from 2 such counts and 1 count of child abuse in the original January arrest warrant
• 2 alleged victims, both boys who were 11 years old at the time of the alleged conduct
• Roughly 9 months elapsed between the February 6 indictment and the October 16 dismissal
• 0 trial dates were ever set; the case never advanced past pretrial motions

From a canceled Fox series to a courtroom

The allegations trace back to "The Cleaning Lady," a crime drama that ran on Fox from 2022 until its cancellation after four seasons in 2025. Busfield, who has more than 150 directing and acting credits over a four-decade career, worked on the show both as a director and as an executive producer. Two child actors on the set, according to court filings cited by Variety, were told to call Busfield "Uncle Tim."

An arrest warrant was issued against Busfield in early January, and he surrendered to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque on January 13 and was initially held without bail. A judge released him on his own recognizance a week later, with conditions that he appear at future hearings. On February 6, the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office announced that a grand jury had returned the upgraded four-count indictment. Busfield pleaded not guilty on February 10. His defense filed the motion to dismiss in June, a hearing was held in late September, and Montano issued his ruling on the deadline he had set of October 16.

Allegations, denials and a family caught in between

The two boys at the center of the case were working as child actors on the series when the alleged abuse occurred, according to the indictment. One of the boys told investigators that while he was alone with Busfield in a bedroom on set, Busfield touched him over his clothing on his genitals and buttocks. Hospital staff later told the boys' parents that the children were showing signs consistent with being groomed, according to court filings described in reporting by Variety and the Associated Press.

Busfield has consistently denied the allegations. "I did not do anything to those little boys, and I'm going to fight it," he said publicly after his arrest. His civil attorney, Larry Stein, argued in February that "this prosecution appears driven by something other than the facts or the law," and has suggested the accusations grew out of a dispute with the boys' parents. Friday's ruling does not address the truth of the allegations; it turns entirely on how the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office conducted the grand jury presentation, leaving the boys' family, the DA's office and Busfield all waiting to see whether the case will be re-presented to a new grand jury.

Reaction, and an uncertain path forward

Amanda Fayerberg, one of Busfield's attorneys, said the prosecutor wrongly told grand jurors that defense witnesses needed to be subpoenaed when, in fact, those witnesses were "present, available and willing to testify" at the courthouse the day the grand jury met. Fayerberg said in a statement that Busfield was "relieved and grateful" after learning of the dismissal. A spokesperson for the district attorney's office said only that "our office has received the order and is evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed."

Montano's order does not bar the state from trying again. "The State, however, remains free to institute new criminal proceedings against Defendant," he wrote, leaving open the possibility that Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman's office could convene a new grand jury. When the original indictment was handed up in February, Bregman said the case was "expected to move forward to trial," a position his office has not publicly revised since Friday's ruling. No new charges had been filed and no new hearing date had been set as of Friday evening, and CNN's account of the ruling likewise noted that attorneys on both sides described it as unclear whether prosecutors would try again or let the case end with the dismissal.