The Region - News from July 24, 1986

Defense attorneys seeking to have charges dismissed against Peggy McMartin Buckey, 59, one of two remaining defendants in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case, have filed a 130-page petition with the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles--accompanied by an unwieldy 800-pound truckload of supporting documents. Dean R. Gits and Andrew R. Willing, representing Buckey, argued that her constitutional rights were repeatedly denied during her 18-month preliminary hearing and that the statute of limitations has expired on some of the charges. Buckey’s son, Raymond Buckey, 28, is expected to file a similar petition. Charges against five others, including the nursery school’s founder, were dropped for insufficient evidence. The appellate court is expected to decide within a few days whether to review the case; if not, it will go to trial in October.