The actor and director will wait over a year for his day in court.

Timothy Busfield’s child sex abuse case sets trial date

The actor and director will wait over a year for his day in court.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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on March 11, 2026 9:12 p.m. ET

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Timothy Busfield. Credit:

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

A trial date has been set for the criminal case against Timothy Busfield.

The actor and director's trial is scheduled to begin on May 10, 2027 in the Albuquerque, N.M., district court of Judge Joseph Montano. According to PEOPLE, the proceedings are expected to last three weeks.

On Feb. 6, Busfield was indicted by a Bernalillo County grand jury on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (a child under the age of 13). He has since officially pleaded not guilty.

Busfield's arrest in January came after allegations were brought forward that he inappropriately touched twin 11-year-old boys when they worked on Fox's *The Cleaning Lady*, on which Busfield served as producer and director.

"I'm going to confront these lies," Busfield said at the time of his arrest. "They're horrible. They're all lies. And I did not do anything to those little boys, and I'm going to fight it. I'm going to fight it with a great team, and I'm going to be exonerated."

Timothy Busfield at a hearing in the Second District Judicial Court in Albuquerque, N.M.

Sam Wasson/Getty

While Busfield has received dozens of letters of support, including from his wife, *Little House on the Prairie* actress Melissa Gilbert, he's since faced additional sexual assault accusations from actress Claudia Christian. The two starred in the 1991 film *Strays* together, and Christian claims that, while rehearsing lines in his trailer, Busfield grabbed her, threw her against a wall, and kissed her, according to a police interview obtained by *The Mirror US*. Christian's claim was introduced in court by New Mexico prosecutors in a Jan. 20 hearing to argue that he has a history of inappropriate behavior on set.

In a statement to **, Busfield's lawyer, Larry Stein, dismissed the connection: "I will not waste my time nor the public’s commenting on thirty year old unproven allegations with an adult woman, which are totally irrelevant to the current case."

Busfield could be sentenced to at least three years in state prison if he is found guilty of the alleged child sex abuse.

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