

The arrest of Ray Buckey in 1983 sparked an investigation that would become the longest and most expensive trial in American legal history: the McMartin Trial. Buckey was a member of the McMartin family, who ran a daycare center in Manhattan Beach, California. The entire staff was accused of abusing the children and practicing satanic rituals. In the courtroom, the cynical defense attorney, Davis, and the autocratic district attorney engaged in a battle of wits, broadcast live on television. Even before any evidence was presented, reports of videotaped interviews with the children triggered a nationwide wave of hysteria.