Start of Buckey’s 2nd Trial Delayed : His Lawyer Calls In Sick After Complaining of Back Pain

The start of Raymond Buckey’s second trial in the McMartin preschool molestation case was abruptly postponed today after his lawyer called in sick.

Attorney Danny Davis had complained earlier of back trouble and asked last week for the appointment of an assistant counsel to help in case he was incapacitated.

Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg took no action on the matter then. After Davis failed to appear today, Weisberg met in chambers with prosecutors and an attorney who accompanied Buckey to the courthouse.

Buckey said the attorney, John Wagner, was seeking appointment as Davis’ co-counsel. Wagner previously represented Buckey’s sister, Peggy Ann, and is familiar with the McMartin case.

Jury selection promises to be another emotionally charged process involving the 31-year-old Buckey.

Buckey and Davis were among the few familiar faces in court today. The prosecutors and judge in the marathon first trial have been replaced. And one of the original defendants is missing. Peggy McMartin Buckey, Raymond’s mother, was acquitted of all charges Jan. 18.

Buckey was acquitted of most of the molestation charges against him, but Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner decided to retry eight counts on which the jury deadlocked.

Critics have accused Reiner of yielding to pressure from McMartin parents and their supporters, who carried on a loud campaign for a retrial. Reiner, who is running for California attorney general, has denied any political motivations.

The first trial of Buckey and his mother lasted nearly three years and cost $13 million--the longest, costliest criminal trial in U.S. history.

Initially, Reiner planned to retry Buckey on all 13 charges on which the jury could not reach a decision. But last month he dismissed five counts considered difficult to prove.

The eight remaining charges involve three children, dramatically fewer than the hundreds once alleged to be McMartin molestation victims.

“The case is nothing more than a rehash of a case that was slanted for acquittal before,” Buckey said outside a pretrial hearing last week. He called it “a political maneuver” and said it would be “a mental, physical and spiritual grind” for him to go through another trial.

His lawyer, Davis, said: “I’ve tried this case once before and it didn’t stand. I don’t expect this to be any different.”

The new chief prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Joe Martinez, said he expects at least one thing to be different--the trial’s length.