Timothy Busfield files motion to dismiss indictment in child sex abuse case

Timothy Busfield has filed a motion to dismiss the grand jury indictment in his child sex abuse case.

The 69-year-old actor was indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13) by a grand jury in New Mexico in February, and he subsequently pleaded not guilty to all four counts days later.

His legal team filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on Thursday, arguing that the prosecution did not present a fair and impartial case to the grand jury.

"Timothy Busfield is innocent," his civil attorney, Larry Stein, said in a statement to People. "This motion describes egregious prosecutorial misconduct during grand jury proceedings, thereby preventing the jurors from hearing testimony, witnesses and evidence even after repeated requests by the grand jury itself."

Stein continued, "The government repressed and suppressed exculpatory evidence, misstated the law and failed in the most basic due process afforded any person under either Constitutional or State laws designed to protect actual innocence from abuse of government power."

In January, The West Wing actor was accused of inappropriately touching two boys while he was directing them on the set of the TV show The Cleaning Lady in New Mexico between late 2022 and early 2024.

Busfield surrendered himself to the authorities later that month and was released on his own recognisance a week later, following a pretrial detention hearing.

The trial is currently slated to begin in May 2027.

His wife, Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert, has remained by his side throughout the case. She appeared on Good Morning America in April and insisted her husband would be exonerated.