Juror in McMartin Case Dismissed for Following News Accounts of Trial

A juror in the retrial of McMartin Pre-School defendant Ray Buckey was removed from the child molestation case for following media accounts of the trial, a district attorney’s office spokeswoman said Saturday.

The loss of the juror was not expected to jeopardize the case because four alternates remain and the trial appears to be nearing its end.

Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg replaced the juror, a male who was not identified, on Friday. Neither defense nor prosecuting attorneys objected to the change, said spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

To avoid outside influence, jurors are admonished not to read newspapers, watch television news or discuss the case with friends or family.

“The whole point of a trial is for the jury to decide a case based on the information provided in the courtroom,” Gibbons said.

Friday’s action was the second time in this case a juror on the 12-person panel had been lost since the retrial began on May 7. On the first day, a juror was replaced after she began coughing violently, an apparent reaction to smoke inhalation.

Buckey’s retrial is expected to conclude next month.

Buckey’s first trial, the longest and costliest criminal trial in U.S. history, teetered on the brink of a mistrial when all six alternate jurors eventually were called to serve. In that trial, which ended in January, Buckey’s mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, was acquitted and the jury could not agree on 13 charges against Buckey. He is being retried on eight of those charges.