Local News in Brief : Ruling on McMartin Case Romantic Link
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A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that information about a romantic relationship between a key witness in the McMartin Pre-School molestation trial and a former KABC-TV reporter who broke the story was irrelevant and should not be presented to the jury.
At issue was the relationship between newsman Wayne Satz and Kee MacFarlane, director of the child abuse diagnostic center at Children’s Institute International. MacFarlane gathered data from children allegedly molested at the now-defunct preschool.
Attorneys for Raymond Buckey, 30, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 61, on trial on 100 molestation and conspiracy charges, contended that MacFarlane leaked information about the case to Satz--who had early exclusives on the story in February, 1984--in an effort to further her career. The defense claimed the pair’s relationship and MacFarlane’s actions contaminated the prosecution’s investigation.
But Judge William Pounders said there was no evidence that the relationship existed when allegations of child molestation first arose at the school in 1983.
Satz was fired by KABC last year in a dispute unrelated to the McMartin case.
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