Timothy Busfield granted release ahead of child sex abuse trial

Timothy Busfield, the Emmy-winning actor known for “The West Wing” and “Thirtysomething,” has secured a legal victory in his child sex abuse case.

A New Mexico judge on Tuesday sided with Busfield, announcing he will release him on his own recognizance as the 68-year-old actor-director awaits trial stemming from allegations he sexually abused two child actors on the set of the Fox drama “The Cleaning Lady.” His wife, “Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert, was in attendance at Tuesday’s hearing and wept following the decision.

“Thank you, God,” she appeared to say.

New Mexico District Court Judge David A. Murphy said the child sex abuse allegations against Busfield are “inherently dangerous” and that prosecutors proved “Mr. Busfield does pose a danger to the safety of others” but that it is currently “difficult for the court to put too much weight into the allegations as they’ve not been vetted by the judicial system.”

Leading up to his decision, Murphy cited letters submitted by Busfield’s defense team from the actor’s friends and family, additional affidavits in support of the actor and “the lack of a pattern involving children in this case.”

“I don’t find that there’s been sufficient presentation that this defendant may commit new crimes pending trial. There’s not evidence of a pattern of criminal conduct,” Murphy added. “There are no similar allegations involving children in his past. There’s no evidence of noncompliance with prior court orders.”

Though Busfield will be supervised by a pretrial services officer in Albuquerque, his travel will not be limited and he is required to report to that officer. He is barred from possessing firearms and weapons and from consuming alcohol or drugs. He is also ordered to refrain from contacting the alleged victims and their family and from discussing his case with witnesses.

Busfield had been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, where he was booked on two felony counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and a single count of child abuse. He turned himself into law enforcement last week, days after New Mexico officials issued a warrant for his arrest.

An affidavit filed earlier this month accuses Busfield of inappropriately touching two child actors, who are brothers, during his tenure as a director, actor and producer for “The Cleaning Lady.” According to the complaint, one child actor said Busfield first touched his “private areas” multiple times on set when he was 7 years old. The actor said that, when he was 8 years old, Busfield touched him inappropriately again several times, according to the affidavit. The complaint also detailed a police interview with Busfield in which he suggested that the boys’ mother might have sought “revenge” on the director for “not bringing her kids back for the final season.”

Leading up to his surrender, Busfield denied the allegations. “They’re all lies, and I did not do anything to those little boys,” he said in a video published last week by TMZ. He also told supporters at the time he intends to “fight” the charges and predicted, “I’m gonna be exonerated.”

Tuesday’s hearing featured statements by Bernalillo County Deputy Dist. Atty. Savannah Brandenburg-Koch, Busfield defense attorney Amber Fayerberg and testimony from “Cleaning Lady” cinematographer Alan Caudillo.

Although Brandenburg-Koch argued against Busfield’s release and cited previous allegations that he assaulted two women, his attorney presented audio from the child actors’ initial interviews with police in which they said that Busfield did not touch them inappropriately.

“This was not a failure to disclose,” Fayerberg said of the audio clips, which she played in the courtroom. “This was an express denial.”

Fayerberg also mentioned the legal troubles of the child actors’ parents, including father Ronald Rodis’ guilty plea to a federal fraud charge in 2017, and a fraud lawsuit in 2011 against the boys’ mother, Angele LaSalle. The attorney said the two young actors had been “victimized” but not by Busfield.

“They were victimized by their own parents, who no longer could make money as a lawyer, disbarred. No longer could write bad checks,” she said, “taking 85% of the money they made on a TV show and then manufactured into victims as revenge.”

Busfield’s professional career has taken numerous hits amid the child sex abuse allegations. As the complaint circulated, Busfield was dropped by his agency and edited out of an upcoming film, according to Deadline. Last week, NBC also decided to pull an episode of “Law & Order: SVU” featuring Busfield from its programming lineup.