New Mexico Judge Joseph Montano dismissed Timothy Busfield’s child sex abuse indictment after finding prosecutors withheld grand-jury witnesses, a ruling that still allows the state to refile charges.

District Court Judge Joseph Montano granted the defense motion in an order issued Friday and wiped out four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor against the actor and director. ABC News reported that Montano concluded prosecutors “failed to act in a fair and impartial manner.”

The case grew out of allegations tied to the Albuquerque set of the show “The Cleaning Lady.” Busfield has denied every claim. The dismissal rests on how Bernalillo County prosecutors handled the grand jury, not on a trial verdict about what happened on set.

Montano found the prosecutor’s conduct had the practical effect of unilaterally withholding witnesses the grand jurors themselves had asked to hear. That finding sits at the center of the order and explains why the indictment collapsed.

Grand jurors asked for witnesses prosecutors never produced

Busfield’s lawyers, Amber Fayerberg and Chris Dodd, moved in June to toss the indictment. They argued the prosecutor mishandled New Mexico law, abandoned the duty of neutrality, and shut down the grand jury’s repeated requests for more testimony.

Fox News reported Montano’s sharper language on the structural damage. The judge wrote that the prosecutor failed to act in a fair and impartial manner and that the proceedings violated grand jury statutes designed to protect the integrity of the system and the presumption of prejudice that follows those violations.

In the order, Montano stated the prosecutor’s actions “had the practical effect of unilaterally withholding witnesses requested by the grand jurors.”

"The prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner, including the failure to properly instruct the grand jury on the law for calling witnesses and in instructing the grand jurors on a procedure that effectively withheld requested witnesses."

That passage, carried by Breitbart’s account of the ruling, matches the core defect the defense flagged for months. Grand juries are supposed to test evidence, not rubber-stamp a one-sided presentation.

Defense filings put the stakes in plain terms. Busfield’s lawyers said the state abandoned its role of administering justice and chased an indictment at the cost of evidence, Busfield’s rights, and the independence of the grand jury.

Court fights over charging power keep surfacing in other high-profile fights, including when a Nevada judge dismisses criminal charges after prosecutors overreach.

Allegations reached back to a hospital report and a studio probe

The original criminal complaint alleged two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. A Bernalillo County grand jury later returned four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in February.

According to the complaint summary, parents said the alleged abuse began in 2022, when the child was 7. The child’s mother later told child protective services the abuse ran from around November 2022 into spring 2024. The children did not report sexual abuse when officers first interviewed the parents.

Investigators opened the case in November 2024 after a physician at University of New Mexico Hospital examined the child and notified police of suspected sexual abuse. Busfield turned himself in after an arrest warrant in January and appeared at a January 20, 2026 hearing at the Bernalillo County Courthouse in Albuquerque.

Warner Bros. attorneys told police the studio had already run an independent investigation into the allegations and could not find evidence to support the claims at the time. That studio finding never erased the criminal case, but it sits in the complaint record as an early check that produced no corroboration.

Prosecutorial corners cut in charging decisions have drawn judicial pushback elsewhere, including a federal judge’s referral of Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner over alleged misconduct.

Busfield’s lawyers say the case wrecked a decades-long career

Fayerberg told Albuquerque’s KOAT the judge made “the right decision.” She said Montano saw the prosecution’s tactic for what it was and said so in the order.

"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."

She described Busfield as relieved and crying after the order landed.

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

Those are defense claims about harm, not findings of innocence on the underlying facts. The order dismisses the indictment on fairness and grand-jury process. It does not try the abuse allegations to a verdict.

Just The News noted the same core holding: Montano dismissed the four charges after finding the prosecutor failed to act impartially, including by failing to instruct grand jurors properly on calling additional witnesses, while leaving room for new charges.

Similar courtroom friction shows up when judges keep contested cases alive or shut them down, as in the fight over whether a federal judge rules Kyrsten Sinema must face a civil suit in North Carolina.

Bernalillo County prosecutors still have a path to refile

Montano’s order states the state “remains free to institute new criminal proceedings against the defendant.” The dismissal ends this indictment. It does not bar a clean second attempt if prosecutors believe they can follow the rules.

Nancy Laflin, communications director for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, said the office is “evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed.” No refiling timeline appears in the public statements so far.

"evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed."

That posture leaves Busfield under a cloud even after the indictment fell. A dismissed charging document can still follow a defendant in public reputation long after a judge flags the process as broken.

Process fights in the courts rarely stay quiet, whether the dispute is a criminal indictment or a Missouri redistricting standoff that lands officials in contempt proceedings.

Readers watching charging power and executive authority also track bigger docket fights, including when the Supreme Court clears Trump to resume contested removal policies.

Fair process is not a technicality

The verified record shows a grand jury that wanted more witnesses, a prosecutor whose instructions and choices blocked that path, and a judge who refused to let the indictment stand. Busfield denied the allegations. Warner Bros. told police its own earlier probe found no supporting evidence. The district attorney’s office is still deciding whether to start over.

None of that settles the underlying claims in a trial. It does settle this much: New Mexico’s grand jury rules exist to restrain the state, not to clear a runway for a one-sided push. When those rules get ignored, the damage hits first and the cleanup comes later.

Due process is not a courtesy prosecutors can skip when the defendant is famous and the accusations are ugly. If the state wants another shot, it can follow the law the first time.