Busfield awaits court hearing next week to determine custody status 

A hearing has been set for Tuesday to determine whether Timothy Busfield will remain in custody as he awaits trial on accusations of child abuse and criminal sexual contact.

The Emmy Award-winning actor and director will appear in front of District Judge David Murphy on Tuesday, and at that time formal charges will be filed against him, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said at a Thursday news conference. Busfield is facing felony charges of child abuse and two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor under 13.

Bregman, who is running for governor, called the news conference to announce the date for Busfield's pretrial detention hearing but otherwise released few new developments in the case.

To a room filled with cameras and reporters who came from across the nation to cover the case, Bregman emphasized that Busfield is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He then went over the case timeline as documented in various court records.

Bregman said after formal charges have been filed, Busfield will be arraigned and the court will set a date for a trial.

"Most of the time, these type of cases take between a year and 18 months to complete and I don't see why this shouldn't reflect the same kind of time frame," he said.

Bregman did not answer any additional questions on the case and said "prosecutors should try cases in the courtroom and not in the media." He added that he primarily held the meeting for the sake of transparency after his office had been "bombarded" with questions.

"I'm not going to discuss the specific facts of this case," Bregman said. "The professional rules of conduct don't allow me to do that."

A warrant was issued for Busfield's arrest Jan. 9, and on Tuesday he voluntarily turned himself in to Albuquerque police and was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he remains in custody. 

A Metropolitan Court judge ordered Busfield to be detained until a pretrial detention hearing could be held after the DA's Office requested he remain in custody pending trial. When asked why a pretrial detention motion was filed for Busfield, Bregman said it was standard for the DA's Office to file motions for cases with similar charges.

Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857.