McMartin Preschool trials

The Event Seven preschool workers are tried for sexually abusing their charges

Date 1987-1990

Place Manhattan Beach, California

The McMartin Preschool case set off a wave of hysteria in the 1980’s, as parents—who were working longer hours than ever to make ends meet—worried about the dangers of leaving their children in the hands of strangers. When it was later demonstrated that the allegations against the preschool’s staff were unfounded, the case raised a new set of concerns over political manipulation of the justice system, media sensationalism, and the appropriate level of credence to give to young children’s testimony.

When Judy Johnson’s two-year-old son Matthew returned home one day in 1983 from the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, his bottom appeared red, so she took him to a hospital for an examination. Although hospital personnel found no conclusive evidence of sexual molestation, she filed a police report, charging Raymond Buckey, grandson of McMartin Preschool owner Virginia McMartin with sexual molestation, including bondage and rape. Police, after referring Johnson to Children’s Institute International (CII) at the University of California, Los Angeles, began an investigation of Buckey. They sent letters to the parents of the other McMartin Preschool students to inquire whether they had heard of any misconduct. Hysteria ensued, and many parents, certain that horrible things had occurred at the school, went to CII for counseling.

Politics and False Testimony

Eager for a rallying issue to focus his reelection campaign, Los Angeles district attorney Robert Philibosian assigned the McMartin case to Assistant District Attorney Joan Matusinka, whose specialty was sexual abuse of preschoolers, and to another assistant district attorney, Lael Rubin, who handled the case in court. Matusinka urged parents to see her friend at CII, social work grantwriter Kee MacFarlane, who in turn intimidated children into admitting falsely to abusive conduct by members of the preschool staff.

The case ultimately involved three full-time assistant district attorneys, fourteen investigators from the District Attorney’s Office, twenty-two task force officers, two full-time and twenty part-time social workers, and one full-time and four part-time detectives. Investigators searched twenty-one residences, seven businesses, three churches, two airports, thirty-seven cars, and a farm. They found no concrete evidence to corroborate the wild allegations made by 450 children, who accused teachers of slaughtering horses, forcing children into hidden tunnels, attending satanic rituals in locked churches, and taking naked photographs. The media and the prosecution, however, focused on these fantastic charges without making any effort to verify them. Nevertheless, the coerced confessions were referred to a grand jury, which indicted the entire preschool staff of seven on more than 150 counts. The district attorney added more counts, bringing the total to 208. After their arrest in 1984, bail was denied to all the suspects except elderly Virginia McMartin, when Rubin falsely alleged that the defendants threatened the parents and children with harm. Jailed pending trial, they were abused by prison guards and prisoners.

Before the trial, evidence was presented at a nineteen-month preliminary hearing, the longest on record. The defendants lost all of their assets paying their defense lawyers’ fees. During the hearing, the defense identified inconsistencies in the children’s stories. One child even identified actor Chuck Norris, a city attorney, and four nuns whose photographs had been taken in the 1940’s as among those who had molested them at the preschool. One expert found that photographs of the children’s anuses were inconclusive. Nevertheless, in January, 1986, after the $4 million preliminary hearing was concluded, the judge charged Ray Buckey with eighty-one felony counts, his mother Peggy Buckey with twenty-seven, and the others with various subsidiary crimes.

Soon, two members of the prosecution team resigned, claiming that the evidence against the defendants was phony; one testified that Rubin had intentionally lied to deny bail to the McMartin Seven. Ira Reiner, who had defeated Philibosian to become the new district attorney in 1984, then reviewed the evidence and dropped charges against all but Ray and Peggy Buckey. Jury selection began in April, 1987. At trial, of 360 alleged victims of child abuse, only 11 children testified. The defense was denied the opportunity to view all the videotaped interviews with the children. A prison snitch testified that Buckey had admitted guilt in prison, but then admitted that his testimony was not credible. A professor of medicine testified that there was anal and vaginal penetration, but his testimony was discredited because he had no formal training in diagnosis. Social worker MacFarlane’s testimony in August, 1988, was refuted by a psychiatrist, who reported that the children were saying whatever MacFarlane wanted them to say. However, the judge refused to allow other crucial rebuttal testimony.

The $15 million trial concluded in January, 1990, becoming the longest criminal trial in American history. Peggy Buckey was acquitted, and the jury hung on thirteen of the counts against Ray. Ray underwent a second trial in June, 1990, which resulted in another hung jury. The defense then moved that all charges against Buckey be dismissed. The motion was granted.

Impact

In 1985, while the trial received television coverage, there was widespread hysteria around the country about child abuse in preschools. Approximately one million people were falsely accused of child abuse. Teachers who made physical contact with their students were sometimes fired and even imprisoned. Conferences on child abuse focused on satanic ritual abuse. Several persons were arrested and convicted of participating in child abuse rings. Another celebrated trial in 1986, involving a day-care center in Massachusetts, resulted in three convictions after prosecutors consulted with the McMartin prosecutors for ideas.

Subsequent Events

Some of those falsely accused across the country were able to rebuild their lives, though Peggy Buckey developed agoraphobia. Among thirty who were imprisoned for allegedly molesting children in Bakersfield, one died in prison, seven served their time (a twenty-year sentence in one case), and twenty-two others had their convictions reversed on grounds of judicial or prosecutorial misconduct. The latter sued and won several million dollars in compensation. Once the falsity of the charges in the McMartin case became more widely known, the hysteria over abuse subsided somewhat and was replaced by concern over the ease with which young children’s trial testimonies can become tainted.

Bibliography

Eberle, Paul, and Shirley Eberle. The Abuse of Innocence: The McMartin Preschool Trial. New York: Prometheus, 1993. Detailed examination of the evidence in the case.

Nathan, Debbie, and Michael Snedecker. Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic Books, 1995. Analysis of the children’s fabricated claims in the McMartin case and how ordinary citizens vilified the McMartin Seven outside court.

Pride, Mary. The Child Abuse Industry. Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1986. Identifies how the hysteria over child abuse adversely affected nearly one million persons around the country.

Showalter, Elaine. Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Points out that anyone is susceptible to hysteria, especially when the media identify a phenomenon that enables individuals to imagine secret conspiracies and to fabricate claims, which Showalter calls “hystories.”