8 Counts Remain Against Buckey : McMartin case: Prosecutors drop five other charges but give no reason. Trial start pushed back.

Only three of five prospective child witnesses in the once-massive McMartin Pre-School molestation case will take the stand in the retrial of former teacher Ray Buckey, prosecutors said Tuesday, including one girl who did not testify at the first trial.

At the same time, prosecutors reduced the number of charges against Buckey from 13 to eight, but declined to give their reasons for the move.

“We are unable to proceed on those (other) counts,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Ferrero, one of two prosecutors recently assigned to the controversial case.

Dropping three molestation charges and one conspiracy count “will strengthen our case,” she added, refusing further comment.

One of the dropped counts involves a boy whose allegations triggered the case nearly seven years ago. The boy, who was 2 1/2 years old at the time of his alleged molestation, has refused to testify.

In an unusual move, Buckey’s defense attorney, Danny Davis, sought unsuccessfully to persuade Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg not to dismiss the charge, arguing that the action would prevent him from presenting evidence about the origins of the case.

Davis said the boy had implicated his father in molestation and noted that the youngster’s mother had a history of mental illness and alcoholism. The woman, who first went to the Manhattan Beach Police Department with allegations that her son had been sodomized at the preschool, also accused several others of molestation before her death in 1986.

Weisberg, terming Davis’ request “a bit strange,” denied the motion, but said some of the evidence Davis wants to introduce may be admissible and relevant.

Weisberg, who is replacing Judge William Pounders as the trial judge, agreed to a defense request to delay the start of the trial set for Friday. He rescheduled jury selection for March 27.

Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, were acquitted in January of 52 molestation counts after a three-year trial, but the jury deadlocked on 13 counts, all against Ray Buckey. They had leaned toward acquittal on those counts but were unable to agree.

After two weeks of public outcry, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner decided to retry Buckey.

Weisberg denied a defense motion Tuesday asking that Reiner’s office be disqualified from handling the case. Davis claimed that the decision was politically motivated and that Reiner is prejudiced against his client.

“It is my conviction that we need an independent, impartial, neutral and evenhanded evaluation of this case,” Davis said.

Buckey, who again pleaded not guilty to the charges, told reporters outside the courtroom that society, not just he, had become “a pawn.” The case has broken records for length and cost.

The case began in 1983 with the arrest of Buckey. In early 1984, he and six other teachers at his family’s Manhattan Beach nursery school were charged with hundreds of molestation counts and ordered to stand trial after a lengthy preliminary hearing.

Reiner, however, proceeded against only Buckey and his mother, calling the evidence against the others “incredibly weak.”

The new trial--dramatically reduced in scope--will have not only a new judge known for his efficient handling of cases and his experience in the field of child abuse, but also two new prosecutors, Ferrero and Deputy Dist. Atty. Joe Martinez.

Martinez estimated that the new trial would last no longer than six months and said that the prosecution plans to call only 11 witnesses.