An indictment brought against Timothy Busfield — known for his roles in The West Wing and Field of Dreams — was dismissed by a New Mexico judge after findings of prosecutorial misconduct and procedural errors that the court determined had compromised the integrity of the grand jury proceedings underlying child sexual contact charges.

On Friday, a defence motion seeking dismissal of the charges was upheld by State District Judge Joseph Montano in a written ruling. Busfield has, on more than one occasion, characterised the allegations as invented claims motivated by a desire for revenge.

No announcement came from prosecutors about whether a fresh indictment would be pursued.

Busfield's work directing The Cleaning Lady between 2022 and 2024 forms the backdrop against which the lawsuit arose. According to the parents of the twin boys who were released from the production, Busfield made unwanted physical contact with the children while on set in Albuquerque.

A criminal complaint lodged in January contained a statement from an Albuquerque Police Department investigator, who relayed that a child had disclosed two separate incidents of inappropriate touching by Busfield — once at age seven and again at age eight, both involving contact over the child's clothing. According to the complaint, the boy's twin brother told investigators that Busfield had touched him as well, though he did not specify where on his body, and that he had stayed silent out of fear of getting into trouble himself.

After surrendering to authorities, Busfield was released from custody ahead of trial, with a judge determining that his record showed no prior offences of a comparable nature involving children. A grand jury indictment arrived within weeks, laying out charges that Busfield had made physical contact with the intimate areas of one of the boys on multiple separate occasions.

The indictment handed down by the grand jury — reached without any preliminary examination of evidence — carried enough legal weight to advance the case through the courts.

Attorneys representing Busfield noted at trial that the boys made no mention of any physical misconduct in their initial police interviews, and that the accounts they later gave became more incriminating only after their parents — fathers whose sons had lost paid positions on the production — allegedly steered them toward more damaging statements.

Busfield's legal team filed a motion in June seeking dismissal of the indictment, contending that prosecutors had disregarded insufficient evidence and erected procedural barriers that prevented grand jurors from receiving witness testimony. At a September court proceeding, recordings of grand jurors requesting testimony from additional witnesses were introduced by Busfield's defence attorney, Amanda Fayerberg.

Fayerberg contended that jurors had been incorrectly told subpoenas would be necessary to secure testimony from witnesses who were, in fact, on hand and prepared to take the stand, adding that the prosecution's conduct in the matter amounted to a serious procedural violation.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Greer Staley pushed back on both fronts, arguing that the defence had not followed proper evidentiary procedures for grand jury submissions and that Busfield, during his three-hour appearance before the panel, went beyond acceptable bounds in directing jurors toward particular witnesses and exhibits.

Court transcripts filed by Busfield's legal team show that the actor, whose television work included a recurring role on Thirtysomething, told the jury that the proceedings had disrupted his life and placed a strain on his family. In testimony, he described losing professional representation and being let go from work — circumstances he attributed to what he called being "canceled."

Busfield further told the court he had no reason to conceal anything, and when confronted with the allegation that he had touched the children inappropriately, he flatly denied it, describing the claim as completely and utterly without any foundation whatsoever.

Each charge listed in the indictment carried a base prison term of up to six years, with the possibility of further enhancement, according to the prosecution.