On Tuesday, a judge ordered Timothy Busfield to be released pending trial on child sexual abuse charges.
Busfield has been in a prison in Albuquerque, New Mexico, since surrendering to authorities on the charges last week. He is accused of touching a 7-year-old boy’s “private area” while directing an episode of FOX’s “The Cleaning Lady.”
Prosecutors asked Judge David Murphy to keep Mr Busfield in custody for the duration of the case, saying he posed a danger to the community.
But Judge Murphy ruled that Busfield had no criminal record and should be released. He ordered Busfield to have no unsupervised contact with minors while the case is pending.
Busfield’s attorney, Christopher Dodd, said his client immediately drove from New York to New Mexico to surrender.
“He is ready and will continue to fight this case,” Dodd said.
Dodd also noted that when the alleged victim was first interviewed by police, he initially denied any sexual contact had taken place. The defense also called Alan Caudillo, the director of photography for “Cleaning Women,” who said he was with Mr. Busfield “100 percent,” but that Mr. Busfield was never seen tickling or picking up the boys.
“Is it possible that Mr. Busfield inappropriately touched[the alleged victim]on the set of ‘The Cleaning Lady’?” Dodd asked.
“No,” Caudillo said, adding, “If there were kids on set, there would have been at least 10 of them on set together.”
Assistant Attorney General Savannah Brandenburg Koch noted that Mr. Busfield has faced previous sexual misconduct charges, but none of them rose to the level of criminal charges.
“This behavior has not stopped yet,” she claimed. “Indeed, as you can see from these reports and other allegations, the case continues. The defendant continues to be at large. The continued risk that the defendant will reoffend, or that he will continue to do so because of the power of his position, indicates to this court that there is indeed a possibility that he will reoffend.”
At a news conference last week, District Attorney Sam Bregman said his office regularly seeks to keep defendants in custody in child abuse cases. New Mexico does not have a cash bail system, and defendants are generally entitled to pretrial release unless the state can prove they pose a danger to the community.
