-Caveat Lector- > http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20001217/t000120443.html > > Sunday, December 17, 2000 > > McMartin Defendant Who 'Lost Everything' in Abuse Case Dies at 74 > > Court: Peggy McMartin Buckey and her son were acquitted in the > sensational Manhattan Beach case. > > By MITCHELL LANDSBERG, Times Staff Writer > > > When it was over, Peggy McMartin Buckey spoke bitterly of the price > she had paid in the longest and costliest trial in American > history--one which, from a legal standpoint, she had won. > > "I've gone through hell and now we've lost everything," she said in > 1990 after she and her son, Ray Buckey, were acquitted of child > molestation charges in a case that had opened the door on one of > society's deepest taboos. > > Buckey, who was 74, was pronounced dead Friday at Little Company of > Mary Hospital in Torrance after paramedics found her unconscious in > the nearby home where she had lived before and after the three-year > trial. The cause of death was not immediately available. > > Buckey had been a driving force behind the McMartin Pre-School in > Manhattan Beach, which became the focus of a fast-spreading > investigation into alleged child molestation in the fall of 1983. > > The school had been founded by her mother, Virginia McMartin, a > feisty, plain-spoken woman who died in 1995. But it was Buckey--a > quieter, more overtly spiritual woman--who hired her son to work at > the school and who carried out much of the administrative oversight. > > Peggy McMartin Buckey, Ray Buckey and Virginia McMartin were among six > people indicted in 1984 on 115 counts of child molestation. > Ultimately, after ballooning to 208 counts involving 41 children, the > case was whittled down to 65 counts of molestation and conspiracy > against Buckey and her son. > > Nothing about the McMartin case was simple, easy or fast. It cost > taxpayers more than $13 million. The preliminary hearing alone took 18 > months. The entire case took seven years to wind through the courts, > and involved six judges, 17 attorneys and hundreds of witnesses, > including nine of the 11 children alleged to have been molested. > > The case made and ruined careers, and changed the way police > departments, day care centers, schools and courts deal with child > molestation charges. It was made into a TV movie--and no wonder. With > its allegations of animal sacrifice, pornography and satanic-type > rituals, it led not a few observers to compare it to the Salem witch > trials. > > Of all the figures in the case, including McMartin and Raymond Buckey, > it was Peggy McMartin Buckey who lost the most, said Ray Buckey's > attorney, Danny Davis. > > "Peggy was spiritual, and she never seemed concerned specifically > about what would happen if they were convicted," Davis said Saturday. > "But she lost everything. . . . Now that she has passed away, [I] > would say, that's one we should be ashamed of." > > Buckey had derived much of her self-esteem and identity from her job > as a teacher and administrator, Davis said. When that was stripped > from her, she never fully recovered, he said. > > Buckey appeared cheerful and friendly during the trial, and passed the > long hours crocheting, drawing pictures and reading religious > literature. But she reacted indignantly during 11 days on the witness > stand when she was asked about claims that she and her son had > molested and threatened children. > > "Never!" she said repeatedly. > > She did testify that she had been molested as a child, but she was not > asked to describe the circumstances under which it occurred. She also > testified that her son had been a troubled young man who was "trying > to find himself" before and during the three years he worked at the > preschool, and that he felt more accepted by children than by adults. > > After the trial ended, Ray Buckey was retried on eight counts on which > the first jury had deadlocked, but a mistrial was declared when the > second jury also deadlocked. > > A number of jurors in both trials said they believed that children had > been molested, but that the prosecution had failed to prove that the > Buckeys were the ones who had molested them. > > Some said the children appeared to have been led by questioners to > claim they had been molested. Others said that so much time had passed > that the memories of the children--who passed from toddlerhood to > adolescence in the course of the legal proceedings--couldn't be > trusted. > > The Buckeys, McMartin and Peggy Buckey's daughter, Peggy Ann Buckey, > successfully sued the parent of one child at the school for slander in > 1991, but they were awarded only $1 in damages. > > Survivors include Buckey's husband, Charles Buckey; Ray Buckey, who > went to law school after the trial; and Peggy Ann Buckey, who resumed > her teaching career. > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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