Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin rejected Nicole Dufault's claims about prosecutors improperly presenting her case to the grand jury
NEWARK -- A Superior Court judge on Friday denied a motion by a Maplewood teacher to dismiss charges she sexually assaulted six male students.
Judge Michael L. Ravin rejected Nicole Dufault's claims about prosecutors improperly presenting her case to the grand jury that issued a 40-count indictment charging her with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
As part of the motion, Dufault's attorney, Timothy Smith, accused prosecutors of "laziness" for not instructing grand jurors on the law when they presented the facts to them to support the indictment on Feb. 4, 2015. Those legal instructions were provided to the grand jury on Dec. 3, 2014, according to Smith.
Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Gina Iosim, who is handling the case, countered that prosecutors provided in-depth legal instructions on Dec. 3 and certain legal instructions on Feb. 4, when they also asked grand jurors if they had any questions on the law.
In his written decision, Ravin approved of the state's Feb. 4 grand jury presentation.
"The Court's review of the record, however, reveals that the State reiterated to the grand jury the relevant statutory language discussed in earlier orientations, weaving the elements of the charges into the factual discussion, and also afforded the grand jury the opportunity to ask questions about the law," the decision states.
"While the presentation on February 4, 2015 may not have included a complete legal interpretation of Defendant's charges, the grand jury asked several questions in earlier presentations that demonstrated their readiness to ask questions about legal issues they were unclear about."
Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin listens to the attorneys at a hearing on Monday, Aug. 3, for Maplewood teacher Nicole Dufault, who is charged with sexually assaulting six male students at Columbia High School. (Bill Wichert | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) The judge also noted the two state statutes in the case were "relatively 'self-explanatory,'" and "there is no evidence in the record to suggest that the jury was 'uninformed' or that the prosecutor's conduct clearly interfered with the grand jury's decision-making function."
"Absent these showings, incompleteness of the legal interpretation provided in the State's presentation itself does not warrant dismissal of the indictment," the decision states.
A language arts teacher at Columbia High School, Dufault, 36, of Caldwell, is accused of engaging in sexual activity with the six students on multiple occasions between about July 2013 and August 2014. The students were between 14 and 15 years old at the time of the incidents, prosecutors said.
The alleged sex acts occurred in Dufault's classroom and in her car - including an incident when one student recorded a cell phone video of her performing oral sex on another student in her car, court documents state.
Smith has said Dufault suffers from frontal lobe syndrome, which he claims left her vulnerable to the students' "over-aggressive behavior." Dufault developed the syndrome after brain surgery she underwent following complications due to her first pregnancy, Smith said.
In the motion to dismiss the indictment, Smith also argued the charges should be thrown out, because prosecutors did not ask grand jurors to consider any mental states in connection with any counts of the indictment. According to Smith, grand jurors were never advised they had to find the alleged crimes were committed with a "knowing" mental state.
On that issue, Iosim argued prosecutors made it clear to the grand jury that the statutes under consideration required a finding that Dufault acted intentionally in her alleged sexual conduct and with a "knowing" mental state. Iosim also said grand jurors were instructed on the different kinds of culpability, including when a person acts knowingly.
The judge found that "the State's failure to specifically instruct the grand jury on the mental culpability involved in the crimes charged did not render the grand jury 'uninformed," according to his decision.
"The evidence presented to the grand jury was sufficient to support the grand jury's finding that Defendant knowingly committed sexual acts with the juveniles involved in this case," the decision states.
The judge noted how grand jurors heard evidence that one juvenile said Dufault "showed signs that she wanted to have sex with students." The juvenile said Dufault asked him if he wanted her to perform oral sex on him and if he wanted to have sex, the decision states.
After they engaged in oral sex and sexual intercourse, the juvenile said Dufault told him "to keep the incident between themselves," the decision states.
"Thus, the State presented 'some evidence' that Defendant acted knowingly and the State's failure to specifically charge the grand jury on the mental culpability did not prejudice Defendant," the decision states.
The judge also rejected Smith's claims that prosecutors provided improper instructions to the grand jury in regard to the second-degree child endangerment charges.
Those charges require evidence that Dufault had assumed responsibility for the care of the students, and Smith alleged prosecutors incorrectly suggested her status as a teacher was enough to satisfy that element. But Ravin found prosecutors did not provide such erroneous instructions.
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.