“Before we saw this latest allegation of abuse of a minor [from Swift], I would have said there’s a good chance Busfield would be out of jail before trial. I think the appearance of this new allegation means that a judge very well may keep him in jail, at least for a while.”
— John W. Day
Now that Timothy Busfield has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse, what happens next?
Busfield — who is married to actress Melissa Gilbert — has denied any wrongdoing and is “shocked” and “devastated” by the allegations, according to his lawyer. And an independent investigator retained by Warner Bros. Television, which produced The Cleaning Lady, found no corroborating evidence that Mr. Busfield engaged in inappropriate conduct.
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New Mexico-based criminal defense attorney John W. Day, a former deputy district attorney in northern New Mexico and founding attorney of The John Day Law Office, LCC, answers PEOPLE’s questions. Day is not connected to the case.
Busfield is scheduled to have a pretrial detention hearing on Jan. 20. The district attorney wants to keep him in jail until his trial. How common is it in New Mexico to keep people in jail ahead of the trial?
The presumption in New Mexico is that defendants should be released on appropriate release conditions, so remaining in jail pretrial is not as common. In a high-profile case like this, though, where the prosecutors think there’s a danger that the defendant will either leave the jurisdiction, not show up, or be a danger to other people, that’s what they have to convince a judge of if they want to keep the defendant in jail before a trial. So there is a procedure to keep Busfield in custody before his trial. The prosecutors just have to convince the judge that he’s a danger.
What is the likelihood the judge will grant the DA’s request?
Before we saw this latest allegation of abuse of a minor [from Swift], I would have said there’s a good chance Busfield would be out of jail before trial. I think the appearance of this new allegation means that a judge very well may keep him in jail, at least for a while.
