3 Defendants Dropped From Buckey Lawsuit

An ex-television reporter and the therapist whose questioning of young children led to the infamous McMartin Pre-School trial were dismissed Tuesday from a lawsuit filed by Raymond Buckey, a defendant in that criminal prosecution.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Burby dropped defamation complaints against Wayne Satz, the former TV reporter who broke the story, Children’s Institute International therapist Kathleen MacFarlane, who interviewed the alleged molestation victims, and CII itself, where the interviews were conducted.

But Burby allowed the allegations against former Dist. Atty. Robert Philobosian to stand, saying he should face trial for comments he allegedly made about Buckey, who filed the defamation suit. Philobosian, who lost the county prosecutor’s post to Ira Reiner in 1984, said during a 1990 news conference that “although Buckey was acquitted, he was probably guilty of the crimes charged,” said Deputy County Counsel Robert Granbo, Philobosian’s attorney.

Buckey was cleared in 1990 of all criminal charges in the case.