Timothy Busfield is standing agency in his protection towards allegations of kid sexual abuse with robust assist from his spouse, Melissa Gilbert, and his Thirtysomething solid mates.

Busfield confronted a choose for the primary time since turning himself in on two counts of felony sexual contact of a minor and one rely of kid abuse on Wednesday. Regardless of beforehand declaring his innocence, the actor didn’t enter a plea on the listening to, and the choose ordered that he be held with out bond till his subsequent listening to, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 20.

In a brand new submitting obtained and reviewed by Leisure Weekly, Busfield's attorneys hit again at New Mexico's movement to carry him for pretrial detention and supply 75 letters of assist for the 68-year-old West Wing alum written by Gilbert and his former Thirtysomething costars Peter Horton and Ken Olin.

"The State's try to remodel accountable self-surrender into aggravating conduct solely underscores the absence of real proof of dangerousness," states an opposition submitting positioned within the New Mexico courts looking for to blunt prosecutors' pretrial efforts to maintain Busfield, who’s presently in custody, imprisoned as much as and through a trial for the felony claims.

"The Movement asks the Courtroom to imprison a person based mostly on a narrative that has already collapsed below unbiased scrutiny," the submitting from Albuquerque attorneys Amber Fayerberg and Christopher Dodd reads. "The State provides no dependable proof — solely allegations superior by witnesses with documented histories of fraud and monetary exploitation, contradicted by a complete studio investigation, and refuted by witnesses and goal threat assessments. The Structure doesn’t enable liberty to be forfeited on such a basis. The State's Movement ought to be denied."

Busfield's attorneys argue that the actor beforehand handed a "court-qualified" polygraph check and that Warner Bros.' unbiased investigation into the accusations from two youngster actors on Fox's now-canceled collection The Cleansing Girl discovered the allegations unfounded.

The attorneys state, "For all of those causes — the unbiased investigation that undermined the State's allegations at each flip, the affirmative findings of the polygraph and ABEL evaluation, the overwhelming proof of character and group assist, and the absence of any dependable proof of dangerousness — the State can’t meet its burden of clear and convincing proof that no circumstances of launch will moderately shield the group. The Structure requires launch below applicable circumstances."

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Regardless of at the very least one new declare rising since Busfield was charged, Gilbert, who deactivated a few of her social media accounts following the accusations, supplied assist for her husband in one in all 75 letters for the actor-director from "colleagues, educators, dad and mom, neighbors, and household" who’ve reportedly identified Busfield "for years — and in lots of cases for many years."

In her letter, Gilbert started by figuring out herself as Busfield's spouse and explaining that they briefly met within the Eighties earlier than falling in love in 2012. "The truth is that Tim Busfield is my love, my rock, my accomplice in enterprise and life," she wrote. "He’s my consolation and my council. His pleasure, humor, and fast wit carry sparkle to my life. Tim is, fairly merely, the beating coronary heart of our wild and fantastic prolonged household."

"Tim has the strongest ethical compass of any human I’ve ever identified," she continued, partially. "He has devoted his non secular self to all the time being of service to others. He begins on daily basis with kindness and compassion."

She added that on "each single set the place Tim is working," she has been approached by "a number of individuals" who say he’s "their favourite director ever."

"Truly, individuals say that to me in eating places, on pink carpets, and in grocery shops too," she wrote. "His former college students inform me he was their favourite trainer ever. I can’t inform you the way it has warmed my coronary heart over and over to listen to individuals, from so many various walks of life, inform me they encountered my husband not directly and he’s their favourite. He’s my favourite."

"That is the strangest letter I've ever needed to write," Gilbert acknowledged. "I started this letter with logic, however now the emotions have taken over. I can't assist it. I solely need this extraordinary man secure and entire. So, I’ll shut by asking you to please, please handle my candy husband. As he’s my protector, I’m his, however I can’t shield him now and I feel that, greater than the rest, is what is actually breaking my coronary heart. I’m counting on you to guard him for me."

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Busfield's Hollywood friends, together with director Edward Zwick and his fellow actors, praised his virtues as an actor, a director, and a costar.

"Timothy is my pal, so little doubt I'm biased," his Thirtysomething costar Ken Olin wrote in a letter additionally included within the submitting. "However I do know him properly, by means of a few years and lots of altering life circumstances, and he has all the time been a person who cares about different individuals — young and old. And I do know within the very backside of my coronary heart that Timothy would by no means do something to cruelly exploit or hurt anybody, not to mention a baby."

One other Thirtysomething solid member, Peter Horton, praised Busfield as "not solely an excellent actor and a very good director," but in addition " man. By way of and although."

He continued, "I've watched him work as a director and admired, even discovered from, how superbly he respects and helps his actors. I've watched him as he met, married, then divorced his spouse. Watched how he handled that with such grace and gentleness within the face of friction. I've watched him elevate his youngsters, particularly his son, Willy, with tenderness, attentiveness, and watched him lead them by instance. By being man. In actual fact, I understand how essential it’s for his children, buddies, and admittedly the general public at giant to see him for who he’s — man."

Horton famous that his perspective comes as "not solely a fellow artist and pal, however as a fellow father of two women, who is aware of the facility and necessity of getting dad. So I say this with the attitude of an extended historical past with Tim, as a pal, and as a fellow father. Tim is an effective man."

"I hope towards hope that is useful to you given your problem of getting to judge Tim in such a short while and with so little alternative to know him," he concluded. "For many of us, it takes time and expertise to get to know if an individual is nice or not. For some it's way more apparent from the beginning. Goodness simply fills them naturally. So for what it's price to you, as I'm positive you'll hear from all of us who've identified him through the years, Tim is a type of good ones the place it's apparent. My hope and prayer on this diIicult [sic] time is that you simply'll see it too."

In keeping with his arrest warrant obtained and reviewed by EW, an investigation into Busfield started in November 2024 after a health care provider on the College of New Mexico Hospital alerted police about alleged sexual abuse. The victims' dad and mom informed Officer Marvin Brown that the 11-year-old twin boys had been youngster actors who met Busfield on the set of the Fox collection The Cleansing Girl, for which he served as a director and an govt producer.

If discovered responsible of the alleged youngster abuse, Busfield may face at the very least three years in state jail. Underneath New Mexico's statutes, sentencing time and felony class can go up considerably in intercourse crimes if the case includes youngsters below the age of 13 — as this case allegedly does.

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