This Day in the Law
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March 22

Charges Pressed in McMartin Preschool Trial (1984)


On March 22, 1984, seven people were charged with a total of 115 counts of child abuse in the McMartin Preschool trial in Manhattan Beach, California. Though none of the defendants were ultimately convicted, the story behind the charges is shocking.

The two main defendants in the trial were teacher, Ray Buckey, and his mother, school administrator Peggy McMartin Buckey, whose husband had founded the school. Allegations were first raised in 1983 when the mother of a student claimed that her son had been sodomized by Ray Buckey. Following this accusation, a form letter was sent to about 200 parents of students at the McMartin School stating that their children might have been abused and asking the parents to question their children.

The Children’s Institute International conducted interviews with several hundred children about activities at the McMartin School. During the interviews, both children and parents alleged that, in addition to having been sexually abused, the children saw witches fly, traveled in a hot-air balloon, were taken through underground tunnels, had orgies at car washes and airports, and were flushed down toilets to secret rooms where they were abused. These allegations led to accusations that the school was involved in satanic rituals, which caused a huge panic.

On March 22, 1984, Ray Buckey, Peggy McMartin Buckey, and five other teachers and administrators were charged with 115 counts of sexual abuse involving 48 children. The testimony from the children was fraught with inconsistencies and a witness admitted to perjury. Two years later, in 1986, a new district attorney dropped the charges against the other five defendants because he believed that the evidence was too weak for trial. However, Ray and Peggy would have to fight for many more years until they were eventually acquitted by hung juries.