Judge tosses indictment against actor Timothy Busfield

A New Mexico judge has dismissed an indictment against actor and director Timothy Busfield on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, ruling that prosecutors "failed to act in a fair and impartial manner."

The "West Wing" actor was indicted in February by a grand jury in New Mexico.

In June, Busfield's attorneys requested that the court dismiss the indictment against him, stating that the prosecutor handling the case before a grand jury "mistreated New Mexico law, abandoned his statutory duty of neutrality and foreclosed the grand jury's own repeated requests to hear additional testimony."

Melissa Gilbert speaks out on charges against Timothy Busfield: '100% confident he will be exonerated'
Judge Joseph Montano granted Busfield's motion to dismiss the indictment, in an order issued Friday, saying that the prosecutor's actions "had the practical effect of unilaterally withholding witnesses requested by the grand jurors."

The judge noted that the state "remains free to institute new criminal proceedings against the defendant."

Director and actor Timothy Busfield looks on before a hearing in the Second District Judicial Court at the Bernalillo County Courthouse, Jan. 20, 2026, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Nancy Laflin, the communications director for the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office, told ABC News that the office is "evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed."

In January, Busfield turned himself in to authorities after an arrest warrant was issued. The original criminal complaint alleged two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. When he was indicted by the Bernalillo County grand jury, it was on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor.

He was accused of inappropriately touching a child actor on the set of his show "The Cleaning Lady," according to the criminal complaint.

Busfield has denied all the allegations.

The criminal complaint said that the parents of the child reported that the alleged abuse began in 2022, when the child was 7 years old.

The investigation began in November 2024, after a physician at University of New Mexico Hospital examined the child and notified police of suspected sexual abuse, according to the complaint.

An officer interviewed the children's parents, who told investigators that the minor and his twin brother were child actors, the criminal complaint says. The children did not report sexual abuse at the time, according to the complaint.

The child's mother later reported to child protective services that Busfield had allegedly sexually abused her son from around November 2022 to spring 2024, according to the complaint.

Attorneys for Warner Bros., which produced "The Cleaning Lady," told police they previously conducted an independent investigation into the allegations but said they could not find evidence to support the claims at the time, according to the complaint.

Following Judge Monatano's decision to dismiss the case, Busfield's attorneys, Amber Fayerberg and Chris Dodd spoke with ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT and praised the judge, saying that he made "the right decision."

"He saw the prosecution's tactic for what it was and he said so in his order," Fayerberg said. "He said that they effectively withheld witnesses that the grand jurors repeatedly asked to hear from… Doing so was a violation of the grand jury's statutes and it compromised the integrity of the entire grand jury procedure."

Fayerberg added that Busfield is "relieved" and was "crying" after Montano's order.

"This has turned his life upside down," she said. "This has turned his life beyond upside down. It has ruined his life. These allegations have completely destroyed what he took decades to build."

ABC News has reached out to a representative for Busfield.