Actor Fights Back: Timothy Busfield Challenges Grand Jury Indictment

When a grand jury hands down an indictment, it’s typically treated as a serious legal milestone. But Timothy Busfield’s defense team isn’t accepting that as the final word. The 69-year-old actor and his attorneys filed a motion on Thursday, June 18 asking a judge to dismiss the indictment entirely, claiming New Mexico prosecutors have“abdicated its role in administering justice”and are blindly pursuing charges against him without solid ground.

Busfield was indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child in February 2026 after allegations that he touched a child actor inappropriately during incidents that allegedly occurred between late 2022 and early 2024 on set in New Mexico. He has pleaded not guilty. But here’s where his defense takes an interesting turn: Busfield actually testified in front of the grand jury in his own defense—a move that’s relatively rare—and his team is now arguing he was treated unfairly by the prosecutor during that process.

The actor’s side is also leaning on an independent investigation conducted by Warner Bros., which his attorneys claim found nothing to substantiate the allegations. Yet prosecutors, according to documents obtained by TMZ, have chosen to move forward anyway. Busfield’s legal team frames this as willful disregard for exculpatory evidence. In a statement previously released, his attorney painted a blunt picture:“The indictment was not unexpected. As the saying goes, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. 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.”

A status hearing and conference is scheduled for Tuesday, June 30, where a judge will hear arguments about whether this case should proceed. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman has maintained that Busfield is“presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law”and that the case will move forward through the judicial process toward trial. The real question now isn’t whether an indictment was handed down—it was. It’s whether enough has shifted since February to convince a judge that the case shouldn’t even make it to trial.]