Timothy Busfield‘s Attorney Slams Indictment

Timothy Busfield is determined to “fight” the child sex abuse charges against him, as his attorney recently made clear after the actor-director was indicted by a New Mexico grand jury.

Weeks after he was granted release from jail pending trial, Busfield was officially indicted on Friday, February 6, stemming from charges that he had inappropriate contact with two minor boys on the set of Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady.”

Speaking exclusively with Deadline, Timothy Busfield’s attorney, Larry Stein, said that although the “indictment was not unexpected,” he and his client intend to vigorously “fight” the charges against the “Thirtysomething” star.

“As the saying goes, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich,” Stein began. “What is deeply concerning is that the District Attorney is choosing to proceed on a case that is fundamentally unsound and cannot be proven at trial.”

“The detention hearing exposed fatal weaknesses in the State’s evidence — gaps that no amount of charging decisions can cure,” he continued. “This prosecution appears driven by something other than the facts or the law. Mr. Busfield will fight these charges at every stage and looks forward to testing the State’s case in open court — where evidence matters — not behind closed doors.”

Per PEOPLE, Busfield was indicted by the Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, which are all classified as third-degree felonies.

“As with all criminal proceedings, Mr. Busfield is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law,” Bregman said via statement following the indictment announcement. “This case will proceed through the judicial process and is expected to move forward to trial.”

“The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office remains committed to doing everything possible to protect children and ensure justice for victims across New Mexico,” the statement said, according to the outlet.

On Jan. 20, Judge David A. Murray decided to grant Timothy Busfield release from jail after hearing statements from both the defense and the prosecution.

The conditions of his release included the following: Being present for all upcoming court hearings, prohibited from having any “unsupervised contact with any minor children in this case,” with instructions to “not to have any contact with the alleged victims or their families, and you’re also not to discuss the case with any witnesses.”

Judge Murray also addressed the prosecution’s claims of past sexual assault allegations against Busfield that never resulted in any charges against him.

“There are no similar allegations involving children in his past. There’s no evidence of non-compliance with prior court orders. Rather, this defendant self-surrendered and submitted himself to this Court’s jurisdiction demonstrating compliance with the court order for his arrest,” the judge said.

In an audio obtained by TMZ, the two male minor victims in the case were interviewed by police in November 2024 and asked directly if they were inappropriately touched by Busfield.

In the audio, a police officer can be heard asking the boys a series of questions, including: “So, you know what is right and wrong, right? You know no one can touch your private areas?”

One of the boys replied to the officer, saying, “Yeah, but he doesn’t touch those parts.” The other young boy added, “No, he’s never touched me… never.”

These statements in the audio will prove to be crucial to the defense’s case, as they also believe they contradict more recent claims against Busfield as well.

On February 4, Busfield’s career took another hit, joining a growing list of opportunities that have been stripped away. According to Deadline, his character on an upcoming episode of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” will now be played by actor David Zayas.

Days after he turned himself in after a warrant for his arrest was issued, Busfield’s long-time talent agency Innovative Artists dropped him, per The Hollywood Reporter.

On Jan. 20, it was announced that he will be edited out of the upcoming Amazon MGM rom-com “You Deserve Each Other,” where he was cast as the father of Meghan Fahy, who stars alongside Penn Badgley, Deadline reported.

Additionally, NBC also decided not to air the Jan. 12 episode of “Law & Order: SVU” due to Busfield’s guest-starring role.