SOUTHLAND : Ex-McMartin Defendants File Slander Suit Against Parent

Three former McMartin Pre-School defendants filed a slander suit today against the parent of a child allegedly molested at the school, charging that he has defamed them in interviews on national talk shows.

The Superior Court suit against Robert Currie was filed by the founder of the preschool, Virginia McMartin; her daughter, Peggy McMartin Buckey, and her granddaughter, Peggy Anne Buckey.

The suit was filed in response to remarks Currie made on a number of television talk shows following the Jan. 18 acquittals of Peggy McMartin Buckey, 63, and her son, Ray Buckey, 31, on 52 molestation counts stemming from the alleged sexual abuse of pupils at the preschool from 1978 to ’83.

The suit claims that since the verdicts, Currie has continued to state his belief that all the defendants in the case are guilty.