Timothy Busfield Released From Jail Pending Trial ... Huge Defeat for Prosecutors

Published January 20, 2026 12:53 PM PST | Updated January 20, 2026 4:20 PM PST

Timothy Busfield is a free man -- at least for now -- after his lawyer had the prosecutor on the ropes, arguing the whole case was rooted in revenge by angry parents.

Busfield and his lawyer appeared Tuesday afternoon before an Albuquerque judge, taking apart the prosecutors' evidence, piece by piece.

As we reported, Busfield has been charged with child sexual abuse, involving 2 boys who were part of the cast of "The Cleaning Lady" in 2022. Prosecutors claim Busfield touched them inappropriately.

Busfield's lawyer, Amber Fayerberg, went line by line, addressing each accusation in the criminal complaint. She brought up the recording of an officer interviewing one of the boys -- in audio TMZ first obtained -- in which the child volunteers Busfield never touched him inappropriately.

Fayerberg went on to highlight, it would have been virtually impossible for Busfield to have interacted alone with the children, citing the boys' on-set teacher and several witnesses who were there regularly who said they saw no such misconduct.

And that wasn't all ... Fayerberg addressed what the prosecutor actually put in the criminal complaint ... that an actress on set said the mother of the boys told her if her kids were fired, she vowed revenge against Busfield. Both children were not brought back for the final season.

Busfield's defense team pointed out the father of the two boys -- identified in the state's motion for pretrial detention as Ronald Rodis -- is a disbarred attorney … he was convicted of federal conspiracy and wire fraud, pleading guilty in 2016.

Busfield's wife, Melissa Gilbert, who was in attendance in court Tuesday, had tears streaming down her face as she heard the ruling.

Busfield was released without bail. He's free to leave the state pending trial.